Searching for Sanctuary
by Aloria
Summary: She'd always longed for a home and family. Now, she has the chance to get it, but first, she has to overcome her own fears and fight a war over her in order to free herself from those who wish to use her. PostKH2 Angstfest
1. Sand

_Okay, a little Author's Notice here before we start the story._

**First:** I don't own much of anything in this fic. And likely even what I did make up is so mixed with the Fic that it's impossible to really separate what's mine and what's not. So, yeah. in short, I don't own FF7, 8, 9, 10, 10-2, Kingdom Hearts 1 or 2, or anything else that appears in this fic that you recognize. This fic will also contain spoilers for KH2, since it is set after KH2 and contains characters from KH2. It will also contain spoilers for the final fantasy games 7, 8, 9, 10, and10-2.

**Second:** I'd like to point out that since this is my first KH fic, I might not get the characters IC on the first try. If they're a little off, _sorry_! I tried! Really! Especially with the Disney characters!

**Third:** This _**IS NOT** _a self insert! The main character is an OC, and I will do my best to be quite mean to her! Wahahaha! There also might be some romance in this fic. Eventually. I'll stick with something near traditional pairings, except in cases like Aerith/Sephiroth which I think is cute and might sneak into this fic somehow, so don't be surprised if something really odd sneaks in somewhere, like.. Fuu/Hayner... Any OC/Feature Character pairings will be done **_In Character _**and be believable and only after intense consideration of whether it's a logical occurance or not. There will _**not**_ be any self gratifying OC/FC pairings in this fic!

**Fourth:** as I add new chapters, I'll likely go back and edit previous chapters, fixing typos, and sentence structure, and sometimes even add more things in to smooth out the flow of the story. I've not written in a while, so this story is just a little more difficult than usual for me to write.

**Fifth:**Be kind to your poor favorite authors! **LEAVE REVIEWS**! It takes a lot longer to write a chapter than it does to read and leave a brief note on:  
**A)** how much you liked or disliked something that happened in the chapter  
**B)** suggestions for improving the chapter or story on a whole.  
Since I would like to get published someday and am using Fanfics as a way to practice writing good plotlines, PLEASE tell me when the plot sucks! Or if there's a plot hole big enough to leap a pair of elephants through shoulder-to-shoulder! I'll do my best to explain it in the story.

_Thanks for reading this, now Onwards! To the story!_

* * *

_Chapter 1_

_(Sand)_

_Swoosh..._

_...swoosh..._

The sound of waves impinged upon her darkness, the first indication that she was nearing consciousness. However it was the warm foamy water lapping around her legs, the sand digging into her cheek, and the sunburn on the other that finally brought her around to the fact that she was actually alive.

_'I'm not dead.'_ She observed, her mind fuzzy and forming the actual words to think at all was a little difficult.

While normally the statement 'I'm not dead' was spoken enthusiastically or at least in relief, she just couldn't find the energy or inclination to be happy about it. Instead, she squeezed her eyes tighter and curled her fingers in the sand with an incoherent mumble of discontent. Oblivion seemed so much more peaceful than her life. She wanted to go back.

"_SORA_!"

"_Shora_!"

Two voices called from a distance, rattling in her head like peas in a mayonnaise jar. The sound of feet in sand pattered over to her, and she closed her eyes tighter. _'I can't see you, that means you can't see me. I'm invisible...'_

Alas, her wishful thinking did not make a difference and large hands pulled her off the ground and turned her over. She remained limp, hoping that the two would get the hint and go away. Most people in the city didn't want to concern themselves with unconscious bodies, after all.

"Sora!" said the deeper voice, possibly the one holding her, "Gawrsh! Is he awright?"

"Shora, shpeak to ush!" said the strangely quacking voice to her left.

Reluctantly, she cracked opened her eyes then squinted at the bright light that assaulted her eyes so accustomed to the darkness behind her eyelids. Once she found the ability to focus, she found two strange-shaped strangers silhouetted over her against the bright blue sunlit sky. Birds- seagulls, she supposed- were calling nearby.

"_Sora_!" the two said in unison this time, excited and relieved.

Now, she was yanked up off the sand and clutched against a scrawny chest, the taller of the two definitely had her.

"Gawrsh Sora, ya had us scared for a moment!" said the one holding her.

Flexing her fingers, she blinked blearily over the shoulder she was being clutched against, trying desperately to recall who these people were, but her mind was drawing a blank. A very _big_ blank.

However, their enthusiastic clutching at her was making her skin crawl, and despite being tired, she found the strength of will to desperately push at the taller –_creature_- that held her. Breaking free, she fell back on her rear just as a wave washed onto shore, soaking her shorts. Finally able to get a good look at the two, she shook her head, putting a hand to it and scrubbing the sand off her cheek, "What...?" she asked faintly, then looked around her mind still clouded by hunger and lack of sleep. Finally a few things registered on her senses and she murmured blearily, "The beach?" she'd never been to the beach before, but here she was, sitting in sand with waves lapping over her legs, soaking her sneakers and shorts and with her first beach sunburn.

Scrubbing her cheek, she turned her large mirror-blue eyes towards the two in front of her in an effort to understand the situation she found herself in. Had she hitch-hiked to the beach? One of her current companions was definitely a duck, the other was... maybe a dog? She wasn't sure, but in any case, they seemed to know who she was, which was a relief since she certainly had no clues. Nor did she know who they were, or where she was, or how she'd gotten there.

_'Don't ask now. Who knows what kind of predators they are,'_ she thought with at least a little clarity.

"Sora?" the dog-man asked, the owner of the deeper voice. "Are you awright?"

"Yeah!" duck-man added, "We've been looking for you everywhere!"

Blinking at them, she touched her sunburned cheek lightly, sure that it would probably start hurting as soon as she was out of the sun and replied, "Why? Am I supposed to save the world or something?" fat chance, but then again, things seemed a little too odd for a normal day for her. Certainly animals only talked in the movies.

Duck-man and Dog-man exchanged looks, "Well, yesh," Duck-man replied, "The worldsh needsh you again! King Mickey hash dishappeared and Malefichent ish on the move!"

Lowering her hands to the sand, she shook her head slightly, trying to clear the fog that was clouding everything. It was almost ...almost like that time Gary had taken the baseball bat to her, with only a fraction of the headache. Or was that sun-stroke that was making the back of her eyes hurt? She squinted in the bright light of the beach, feeling rather miserable. "Um..." she said softly then peered foggily at the concerned expressions on their faces. Now this was a bit odd. Undeniably, they knew her, yet she didn't remember them, nor did she remember who 'King Mickey' and 'Malefichent' were, but the two of them looked so expectant as they stared at her. How could she tell them that she didn't remember who they were? They would be worried- probably overly so, if she were just having a hangover or some such. Maybe if she just... pretended for a little while, things would come back?

_'Unless they know you're confused and are just pulling your leg for a laugh,'_ was her sarcastic-side's comment, but she chose to ignore that. She wanted to believe them for now. After all, being completely devoid of any recollection of your own name was a rather unnerving state. _'So this is amnesia?'_ she asked herself, but herself didn't have any answers. Therefore, she had to turn to an outside source for answers, and somehow not irritate them with her malfunctions.

Staggering to her feet, she managed to find her balance before the Dog-man's reach to catch her connected, "Let's go then...?" she suggested, hoping to break the terrible tableau of them sitting there staring at each other while the tide came in. Or was it going out? She was no beach-bum.

The two strange creatures nodded and the Duck-man said, "Yesh," he didn't sound too certain, though, and was staring at her as she stood there swaying.

"My, Sora, I think you've grown again," said Dog-man, looking her over.

Looking down at herself, she blinked, "No... my clothes are wet." She pulled her shirt off her decidedly flat chest and wrung the tail in a vain attempt to dry out. Her sports bra was chafing, but the fuzz was clearing from her mind enough to make her conscious of dignity and what little she had at this point. The attempts to wring out her clothes certainly didn't help her shoes, so she merely sighed and started forward, squelching across the sand at a staggering pace. Why did she feel like she'd been hit in the back of the head with something? "So where're we going?" she asked, just to get the other two moving. Once she had a direction, she figured she could just go on auto pilot. She'd functioned through worse circumstances, after all. Admittedly, these particular circumstances were rather strange...

Coming to a stop when she realized the other two weren't going to lead, she looked back over her shoulder. Dog-man said, "Gawrsh, Sora, you seem down today."

"Yeah! What'sh wrong?" Duck-man demanded to know.

Blinking at them, she took a long moment to think over things, then finally turned towards them fully and pinned on a smile, "I'm fine, really." Not really, but she had to say something. Squinting at their expressions, she guessed that they weren't going to take just an 'I'm okay' for an answer. Fumbling through the things they'd said, she blurted the first thing that came to mind, "Just... We should get going, right? Have to find King Mickey before something bad happens to the kingdom, after all." Even though she'd just pulled that out of her hat, it was sufficient to distract the two. Or was it her smile that had done the trick? They'd seemed to perk up quite a bit when she'd flashed it. Either way, they started off and passed her. She was forced to follow, which was fine. She didn't know where she was going.

Again, she paused before going more than a few steps and turned, looking out across the sand to the waves and sunlight sparkling across them.

"Never been to the beach before," she mused under her breath, "but this place... I think I know it." Not that she was likely to recall any moment, but the feeling of Déjà vu was just too strong to go without comment.

"Shora! Come on!" Duck-man called and she turned, jogging up the beach to catch up with the two.

* * *

_AN: If any paragraphs or sentences look odd, please tell me and they will be fixed ASAP._

_Next Chapter: Duck-Man and Dog-Man take our Hero off to another world, can she keep up, or will she be sucked down into the insane chaos her life has descended into?_


	2. Space Pirates?

_Chapter 2_

_(Space Pirates?)_

Scrubbing her sunburned cheek again, she kicked her wet heels against the decking of the Gummi Ship she sat in the pilot's seat of, staring at the controls that were about as familiar as anything else had been so far. The Duck-man and Dog-man had gone into the back, and she supposed they were probably talking about her, but she didn't want to interrupt their important conversations. She was feeling a lot better now that she'd gotten out of the sun. She'd have liked to have had a shower too, but that may have been more than the two she'd been kidnapped by were willing to give her. After the weird teleportation sequence they'd put her through- well... she wasn't going to argue with them. Who knew what other kinds of techno-space gadgetry they had for the express purpose of sucking out people's brains through their noses? And if they wanted to talk about her in the back room, oh well. Hopefully they'd kill her before cooking her in their _Giant Soup Pot of Doom_.

Eventually, Duck-man entered, carrying a bowl of something that immediately had her stomach throttling her backbone. "Here, Shora," Duck-man said, handing her the bowl.

Eyes shining, she flashed a grateful smile at him, "Thank you!" she said, making sure to remain polite, simply because ...well, it was difficult for her to be impolite in the first place, no matter what she thought of the people personally, but also because she figured that if she was a good prisoner, they'd grant her a last wish. It didn't matter if they were fattening her up before they did what they wanted. Instead, she started slurping the hot substance, not caring what it was called or what it was even made out of.

Dog-man entered then from the door in the back of the room. It wasn't a very large room she currently found herself in, but it had windows on three sides, three chairs in the front and center, the teleport pad was in the back left corner, and a door into another room was straight back from the chair she'd been directed to while she'd been suffering from blinding Blue Dot Special from their teleport in. Dog-man said, "Hey, Donald, you think we should go to the Castle first and ask Queen Minnie what she knows?" this seemed to be part of an ongoing conversation, but she perked her ears, committing the names she heard to memory on the vague hope that she really was who they said she was and they wouldn't be eating her anytime soon.

Donald, as he'd been called, looked towards Dog-man and nodded, "Yeah." They both glanced at her again, as if expecting her to say something- perhaps she really did have a vote in this outfit?

Blinking and hurriedly swallowing her latest mouthful, she nodded, "Sounds good," she agreed, because she had nothing legitimate to object with. It wasn't like she even knew who Queen Minnie was, after all, "Uh- after we can take a look at the last place the king was seen?" It seemed like a good suggestion to make, after all, checking the scene of the crime was what the cops did in the TV shows, and she wanted to remain cooperative and helpful. Just on the off chance that they'd appreciate it.

Donald curled his wing into a fist and hopped, "Let'sh go then!" he said excitedly, raring to get to work on the problem looming ahead.

"Uh- Donald, you forgot. The Paths are closed again," Dog-man pointed out, derailing Donald's enthusiasm.

Suddenly flying into a fit, Donald sputtered, flapping his wings, "I know that!"

Staring between the two, she quickly decided that having her mouth full was a good way to avoid asking questions that would get her stared at. After all, she was just their 'guest'.

The Dog-man backed a step away and asked, "Well, what do we do about it?"

"We've got Shora now," Donald pointed out, as if that made all the difference, and she briefly imagined herself being used as a virgin sacrifice.

_'You? A virgin sacrifice? That's a load of giggles,'_ her sarcastic-side commented. _'You'd look like a ghostly stick in THAT outfit. Better stick with the Lolita Goth style.'_

Firmly ignoring that comment from her mental peanut-gallery, and thinking that she'd better say something before Donald and Dog-man got into a fight, she swallowed a mouthful of soup and put in, since this seemed to involve her cooperation, "Can't be hard to open them again, can it?"

The two of them looked towards her and she bit her lower lip. Perhaps she should have kept her mouth shut, on third thought, but Dog-man said, "Hyuck! Wouldn't hurt to give it a try."

After a moment, Donald gave an agreeing nod. "You ready to try, Shora?"

Unfortunately, an immediate agreement hadn't been what she'd been looking for. Hiding her shock behind the bowl, she concentrated on absorbing the rest of her dinner- breakfast, lunch, whatever time of day it was. Her timing was so off. "Um," she said after looking mournfully into the bowl.

Dog-man laughed and held out his hand, "You want more, Sora?"

"Um... if you don't mind. I think I missed a few meals," she admitted with a blush and scratch to the back of her head. Her hair, in its natural state was quite wild, pointing out in all directions in spikes, parts falling into her eyes, and she didn't bother pushing it from her face. In this particularly grimy incarnation, her hair was about as stiff as Gary's three-month-old dirty socks.

Donald admitted, "You do look..."

"Underfed," Dog-man finished where Donald couldn't find the word and moved on without another comment when she blushed again, lowering her eyes and picking at some crusted salt on her boy's shorts. Not only did she wear boy's clothes, but she deliberately spoke in a lower voice, kept her hair fairly short and wild, and ran around beating things with sticks, just like the other boys. This, of course, had not just been out of personal inclination, but out of self preservation. She'd found early that girls were perceived as easy targets by the bullies, so she'd gone for the Gangly Loner Boy image, which her body had thankfully cooperated with even after puberty had set in.

The Loner part had come as a consequence of her life, rather than inclination. She'd never managed to get any friends- male or female- but that may have been because she'd never been in the same school for an entire year. Besides, friends always wanted things. _'If you're really my friend, you'll do this for me...'_ they said. What was the point of making friends if she'd just have the heartbreak of leaving them when her foster-parents sent her off to a new home, or orphanage when they got tired of being disappointed by her refusing to be girly, or when the other children there turned against her in a unified force.

The thought occurred to her that perhaps she should warn this Donald and Dog-man that asking her to help save the universe would only result in her screwing everything up and casting them all into chaos. Just like all her attempts to help people in the past had always backfired. No matter how small her acts of kindness had been- opening a door for a girl with a grin and bow had gotten her slapped. Picking up someone's papers when they dropped them got her called a thief. Helping a foster-mother bring in groceries resulted in her getting yelled at.

Closing her eyes, she tried to squelch the encroaching feeling of uselessness by reaching into her heart for that piece that hurt and snuffed it expertly. Opening her eyes, she looked towards Donald, who'd taken a seat to her left and was doing systems checks or something. The duck looked towards her in return and gave a thumbs-up, which she answered with a fake-confident grin. Dog-man returned, handing her the second bowl, which she ate a bit more slowly this time, starting to feel much better. Certainly more awake mentally than she'd been before.

Dog-man took a seat on her right and looked over his controls with a thoughtful expression. "So- these paths," she asked, unsure of how to phrase her question, "How tangled are they? I mean..." what she _meant_ to ask was whether they would be surprised if they didn't end up at the destination they wanted on the first try. She didn't want to disappoint them and give them a reason to throw her out before she'd filled her empty stomach more than halfway.

"It took us three tries to get to Destiny Islands," Dog-man replied. "The paths closed behind us afterwards. We need your Keyblade to keep them open."

Except that she did not happen to have any keys or blades or any combination of the two on her. Honestly, all she had with her was her cheap digital camera which hung from a strap around her neck and she feared that it too had gotten soaked and would no longer work. Her wallet was in her pocket, and around her neck was a thin silver chain with a diamond-shaped pendant- likely crystal or cubic zirconium, though she didn't really know for sure, she'd had it since forever. Her keys... she'd left them at her foster parent's house for some reason, but that was locked behind her amnesia along with how she'd ended up on the beach.

She smiled, trying not to look too confused. "Sure," she said instead, "But ah... I think I misplaced it."

_This_ got a reaction from the two, and she flinched, expecting to be hit.

Donald squawked and jumped up in his chair, Dog-man spun around to look at her so quickly his long floppy ears hit him across the face, it was amazing he didn't give himself whiplash. Hurriedly, she waved her free hand, laughing nervously, "Haha- sorry, bad joke!" Blushing and hiding behind the bowl, she finished it off and glanced around for somewhere to put it.

That was when Dog-man asked, "So, Sora. Where's Jiminy?"

She stared at her companion, unsure of who or what Jiminy was, so instead, she answered, "Around... Look. We should get going, right? Before the trail gets cold or something happens that needs the king's attention, right?" This finally got them moving, which was a relief and she finally just set the empty bowl in her lap for the time being while she gazed intently at the controls in front of her, watching readouts scroll by. Figuring that they said 'All Clear', she lifted her eyes to look at the front window, brows raising as Donald brought them around, heading past what looked like... not a globe. "I guess Columbus was wrong. The world is decidedly flat," she observed, watching the disk slide past out the side windows and disappear out of view. Thankfully neither Dog-man nor Donald made a comment on that, though they did exchange a look while she wasn't watching.

Turning her attention forward again, her eyes widened at the sight of the large door that was floating out in the middle of the slightly green-purple hued space. "Whoa," she whispered to herself. Now that was just... "Am I on acid?" she had to ask herself and pressed a hand to her forehead. "It would explain a lot." This time, she caught the odd look Donald and Dog-man exchanged and blushed.

Dog-man asked, "Are you sure you're feeling awright, Sora?"

"Maybe it's the sunburn," she answered quickly, "Heat-stroke. Brain-freeze. Constipation. Whatever." Clearing her throat, she shifted in her seat and curled her chilled toes in her now decidedly cold wet shoes. Right. She needed a change of clothes and soon. "Well, Donald," she turned towards the duck, "Take us in," she assumed that was the right thing to say, for Donald nodded and they started forward at a faster pace, and abruptly shifted gears, slamming her back into the chair to desperately clutch the arms. Ahead, the door opened, and they shot through, emerging into an even more disturbing landscape- if that term even covered what she was seeing. Space-scape? Except it had floating islands with waterfalls cascading over the sides.

"Shora! Take the controlsh quick! We've got incoming!" Donald called and following instructions, she grabbed the joystick in front of her, fingers accidentally hitting the triggers on the back. Looming out of bubbles of darkness in front of them, other spaceships appeared and immediately began firing upon the much smaller ship that had invaded their space. Torpedoes shot out with a boom that rocked the ship, and she watched in horror as her accidentally fired shots hit dead-on the oncoming ships.

"Good shot, Sora!" Dog-man cheered.

Pulling her lips in something that looked like a grin, she hoped those had just been mechanical things and hadn't had _people_ inside. She wasn't so sure hanging out with these weirdoes was such a good idea _after_ all. They were making her do things like... shoot torpedoes at other ships. Maybe she _was_ on acid? Gary had always said she was a druggie.

_'No!_ _He was the druggie!'_ her sarcastic-side corrected, _'He was just using you as a way to cover his own problems.'_

Fury flared in her heart at the memory of how, four months ago, he'd beat her, then hauled her back to their current foster parents and said he'd found her buying drugs. He'd told them she'd not paid for what she'd taken and gotten beaten for it. They'd been so... disappointed in her. They'd sent her to rehab after that. Three months of being told things that had no use to her, watched constantly, and yelled at continually when she refused to take the medication she didn't need. She'd tried to help the others there, only to get slapped for trying.

Her fingers clenched on the triggers again, firing another set of torpedoes, which connected with more ships that were now firing on them. Jerking the joystick suddenly, they dodged an attack, spun down again and made a strafing run on a larger ship that they'd suddenly come upon as they rounded the side of a floating island. Firing as fast as her fingers could pull the triggers, she shot down the smaller ships that came towards them at full-ramming speed and spared a moment to look over the other controls on her dashboard. Alarms were screaming throughout the bridge as shots made contact with their small ship and there were red arrows marking spots all over the screen in front of her controls and a large red arrow to the right. Making a choice, she pried a hand loose from the joystick and grabbed something that looked like a throttle and pulled.

Abruptly, the ship spun away from a ship that had been closing in on their right, only to narrowly miss hitting one of the floating islands- causing her companions to shriek. They splashed through a waterfall and came out the other side, darted straight down, barely scratching the side of another giant ship that loomed out of the mist towards them. Spinning around beneath the giant ship, she shot off the cannons that immediately turned to take aim.

Finally, they burst out from beneath the mother-ship.

"Sora!" Dog-man gasped. "There's the Keyhole! Unlock it!"

Shocked and brought back to her surroundings, her hands released the joystick and triggers. Donald had taken over again and honestly unsure of what to do, she looked from Donald to Dog-man. Dog-man gave her an encouraging smile- the warmest expression she had ever seen- and Donald called, "Hurry Shora! They're gaining on ush!"

Looking ahead, she blinked at the large keyhole that had appeared ahead of them, and wondered at it. A keyhole like that would require one big key. The Keyblade? Well, she certainly didn't have one in her pocket!

_'Oh- what do I do! I don't HAVE a Keyblade!'_ she wailed in her mind, sure now that she was about to be killed. Alarms were still ringing in the cabin and Donald was rolling the ship side to side to avoid attacks from behind.

_'Call it!'_ This voice wasn't the usual one she imagined hearing in her head, but he seemed to know what he was talking about and she narrowed her eyes, imagining the Keyblade like a dog, coming to her hand as she called it.

A flash of light sparkled from her right hand, forming into something solid, and eyes widened as she lifted out her hand, in which now rested a giant key with a sharpened side. "Keyblade... right," she whispered. With no better options, she pointed the blade towards the keyhole, watching in wonder as light shot from the end, went through the glass and hit the keyhole outside. A flash of light later and they were through.

Blinking and trembling, she stared at the Keyblade in her hands, wondering if her shorts were still just damp with sea-water or if she'd peed herself. Collapsing back in her seat, she took a breath and then another. Yes, air was very good. And this Trip was seriously getting weird. Maybe someone had mugged her while she was out walking? Maybe this was all happening in her subconscious while she was in a coma in the hospital?

Fingers clenching on the Keyblade in her hands, she peeked over at Dog-man as he said, "Hyuck! Way to go Sora! We knew you could do it!"

_'They knew I could do it...?'_ she repeated silently. So much different than what she'd usually been told: _'I knew you'd screw it up...'_

Lifting her eyes fully, she turned an unguarded smile on Dog-man, knocked off the defensive briefly by his enthusiasm. It was rather contagious. Or maybe it was just what he'd said? _'We knew you could do it'_ he'd said! So what if they had her killing people in spaceships? She was good at it. _'We knew you could do it!'_ Perhaps there really was a first time for everything? _'My calling maybe? If this is an acid trip, or a coma, I hope I stay here forever, killing space pirates. Unless we're the space pirates, in which case, that's cool too. I always wanted to be a pirate.'_

Donald sighed, though, "Aww, thish ishn't Dishney Cashtle."

Shocked out of her elation, she turned to look at the world they were coming up to- another flat disk with a large sprawling town in the center, graced by the light of a setting sun.

"Gawrsh, this looks like Twilight Town," Dog-man pointed out. It was a good thing he knew where they were, but his confirmation drained her of all confidence. After all, they'd wanted her to get them to Disney Castle and she'd failed them. What would they do to her now?

"We should shee how Hayner, Penche, and Olette are doing anyway," Donald added. In unison, Dog-man and Donald looked towards her, as if asking for her approval, startling her out of her spiral towards depression.

Was this team a trio of space pirates or a syndicate? Who knew? Either way, it seemed like an idea that the two of them weren't disinclined to, so she nodded, looking to each of them, "Sure," she agreed, hopefully these people they were going to see weren't dangerous. Licking her lips, she lowered her eyes and added, "Sorry about... not getting us to the-" Dog-man reached over and dropped a hand on her shoulder, stopping her in mid-sentence.

"Gawrsh, Sora, it's not your fault. We're close! Closer in one try than we got in two trying to get to Destiny Islands without you!"

"Yeah! Cheer up, Shora!" Donald agreed, hopping down from his seat.

Lifting her eyes again, she felt immensely relieved. She'd not messed up their plans getting distracted with the space pirate shooting. Accepting the praise, she drank it in like a flower gone too long without water, and smiled at the two again. "Alright," she agreed softly, then looked down at her Keyblade. It was rather big, she observed, and she had nothing to sheathe it in. It was also more than a little oddly shaped, with a large ring around the hilt, a crown-shaped projection off the end, and a short jingly keychain hanging off the pommel. She frowned at it briefly, wondering what to do with the thing when suddenly it disappeared.

_'Right. A self-sheathing sword,'_ her sarcastic-side muttered.

Picking up the bowl from her lap, she slid to her feet and looked around. "Uh, what do I do with this?" she asked, blinking up at Dog-man, since he was closest and had been the source of her recent praise, perhaps he would be inclined to answer a simple question like that.

Thankfully, he took the bowl with a smile and headed off while Donald headed over to the back of the bridge- to what had to be the most Star Trek-ish teleport pad she'd ever seen in real life. Unsure, she followed him and stepped onto the pad, taking a stand beside the short duck. Dog-man hurried back from the other room- wherever that door led to, and hopped up onto the pad beside the other two.

Unprepared, she gasped as light briefly blinded her- lifting her hands, she scrubbed the blue-dot special from her eyes. "Ouch," she muttered.

"Hyuck, gotta close your eyes, Sora," Dog-man pointed out, though he sounded amused rather than disapproving.

"Didn't blink in time," she replied, recalling that she never seemed to blink in time. It was amazing how all the pictures ever taken of her had her with her eyes wide open, wearing a dazed dear-in-the-headlights expression with a pinned on smile. She hated her pictures. Especially her school pictures. She always blacked them out with a sharpie in people's yearbooks while they weren't watching. She had to admit that her actions really weren't that nice, but better that no one remembered her. Unfortunately, though she hated her picture, she had to keep her school ID with her at all times. She had her current one in her wallet, which was probably quite soggy now. Straightening, she dropped a hand into her pocket and checked it. Yep. Soggy as a day-old diaper.

That probably meant her money would need drying out too- what little she had left. She'd been trying to save it and make it last as long as she could, though the _Why_ of that was also locked behind her amnesia. The money could wait, however. For now, she was in a strange room- standing in the corner of a building that was decorated by various pieces of junk, a dartboard, and ratty fourth-hand couch. There was no one in the room, which was just as well, because she figured that if the situation were switched and she'd just witnessed three strangers teleport into her hideout-base, she'd probably pee her pants. Admittedly, Dog-man and Donald hardly looked dangerous, but looks could be deceiving, Gary was quite handsome for a thug, after all. He and his whole gang of butt-heads were too good-looking for their own good. She always hated the years she ended up in the same foster family as him. This was what, the third time? There had to be a conspiracy.

Shaking those thoughts away, she stepped forward, "So, uh, where's the guys we were meeting?" she asked, unsure of where to go from here.

Dog-man scratched the side of his head and said, "Well, I dunno, Sora. They're usually here. This _is_ their Usual Place, after all."

Turning to face the other two, she looked them over for a long moment, then turned back around. There were two scenarios she could see, judging by the place. One was that the gang they'd come to see was a bunch of forty-year-old thugs that ran the streets, looting and stealing. The other half of her thought enviously, _'This is such a cool hangout-spot. I wish I had friends who'd invite me here.'_

Wandering around the room, she paused at a cupboard with a drawer partially open. Cautiously pulling it open further, she picked out the pictures that had caught her attention.

Well, that answered the question. This place was lorded over by a bunch of kids. A tall blonde boy, a chubby dark-haired boy, and a brunet girl... Flipping through the pictures, she stopped, nearly dropping them as she discovered, of all things, a picture of herself wielding a Nerf Sword against the blonde boy, both of them grinning foolishly. The next picture was of herself and the blonde standing side by side, holding up the most ridiculous trophy. Who had won didn't seem to matter, judging by the smiles.

Brows lowering, she stared at her clone, her other... or whatever he or she was. She just could not remember ever meeting these people, and yet she was apparently very good friends with them. Pain rattled in her heart instead of the happiness that should have been there- recalled upon seeing the photos. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her wallet and opened it after setting down the photos.

"Shomething wrong, Shora?" Donald asked as she flipped through her various soggy cards, trying to find her school ID as a hunch came to her. Maybe the sharpie had washed off her picture- since she didn't really have a mirror handy at the moment.

Before she could find her ID, however, a clattering of feet was prelude to the rag covering over the door bursting forward. Gasping and stumbling, three kids shot through and staggered to a stop. "Sora! Donald, Goofy! We're so glad to see you!" the brunet girl of the trio gasped. The other two were the tall blonde boy and the pudgy black-haired boy.

"Olette! What'sh wrong?" Donald asked immediately, quite concerned- obvious by the way he was jumping up and down. She looked from Donald to Dog-man and decided that since she was Sora that left Goofy to be Dog-man's name by elimination.

Closing her wallet and stuffing it away again, she turned to face the other kids and put on a smile. "Hiya. Something the matter?" After all, if it was space pirates, she was good at killing space pirates- Goofy had said so! Though not in so many words, but still, she was good at it. The _only_ thing she was good at so far, but she was beginning to have hopes that she could be good at other things.

Olette swallowed, but it was the taller blonde that spoke up, "It's those weird things again- the ones that had attacked before! I tried to fight them but I just can't hit them!"

Licking her lips when the group of five looked towards her, she nodded firmly and lifted a hand to clench into a fist as she grinned, "Right! Weird things are my specialty," she boldly claimed, "Just leave them to us!" though a voice in the back of her mind- that same one that always told her to not bother trying, whispered that she'd probably regret saying anything, and likely very soon. After all, weird things attacking the town didn't sound all that reassuring or conductive towards continued health. _'You don't even know if Donald and Goofy will assist you in dealing with the Weird Things. YOU just volunteered them.'_

_'Shut up!'_ she ordered her sarcastic-side, smiled at the group, and headed past them, towards the curtained door, outside of which was an alley. There didn't seem to be a thing out of the ordinary- it was about like any old alley, after all. There was junk piled in corners, but the place was eerily silent.

A brief flash of light and weight settling into her palm brought her attention down to her right hand, finding that the Keyblade had appeared once more. She'd not called it this time, so what did that mean? Was it like her new Spider-senses? Ha. Either way, Donald and Goofy had stepped out behind her, carrying a staff and a shield, respectively. Where they'd gotten those from, she didn't know. Maybe the same place her Keyblade came from? Either way, it hardly mattered.

Stepping out further, she came out fully into the alley, looking up and down the cobblestone paved street. "I don't see anything," she said, about to scoff _'Weird Things. I think they were pulling our legs.'_

Choking on her words, she scrambled back as a ball of pure darkness bubbled into being over her head, and like a pustule, popped, dropping a featureless black creature to the ground. "It's kind of cute," she couldn't help but point out when it stood. Unfortunately, more such pustules burst, dropping their strange fruit to the pavement. Donald and Goofy didn't waste a moment in getting into action, and fascinated nearly to the point of fatal distraction, she watched the two fling spells and themselves at the creatures that swarmed across the pavement towards her.

Terror welled up in her as she realized that while _one_ was cute, hundreds looked like a sea of spiders. Stifling her girly shriek, she slapped at the first to come towards her with the only thing handy- her Keyblade. Surprisingly, the monster burst in a puff of black smoke and something sparkling burst out from it. She was unable to stand and watch, unfortunately, for more were surrounding her even as she gaped stupidly at them.

_'Yeah, okay, stupid Voice, you were right. I AM regretting this!'_ she howled in her mind as she hacked at the black monsters. At least they were easy to defeat, but there were so many of them!

"Sora! Behind you!" someone behind her shouted. It sounded like the tall blonde boy.

Spinning around, she staggered back desperately as something much larger took a swipe at her head. This creature, however, was tall, gray, and moved with a rubbery grace, slinking away from her retaliating strike. Annoyed that the thing wouldn't hold still and let her hit it, she chased the creature, managing to dart around behind it, landing a solid blow on its back that staggered the humanoid creature forward several paces. Again, she chased it, having to dispatch two little black-things that got in her path before finally leaping over three more in her pursuit of the rubber-man. Reaching her chosen opponent again, she slid around behind it once more and slammed another hard blow into its back. It slid away then darted back in, landing a solid slap that knocked her rolling.

Staggering to her feet, she smashed a foot into the face of one of the small black monsters that were surrounding her again, falling back on the street-fighting skills she'd had to learn just to keep herself out of trouble. "Oh what I wouldn't give for a big area-blasting spell or something," she panted as she fought them back. After all, Donald could shoot lightning, why couldn't she? Something heavy hit her back, knocking her forward and more black-creatures climbed atop her, pinning her down, clawing at her hair and back, anything they could catch hold of. Terrified of their resemblance to spiders, she shoved back to her feet and picked up her fallen Keyblade, swinging it around to knock the black-things backwards again.

Rubber-man slammed into her side.

"Stop it you darn bugs!" she shouted, finally losing her temper, which resulted in a fit of slashes that hit the rubber-man dead on, making it disappear into grey smoke. Her triumph was immediately stolen by a surge of the black-things that rolled towards her like spiders, or crickets, which she also did not like, and giving into her adrenaline-powered fury, she lashed out at them too, swinging her blade wildly in arcs that caught as many of the things as she could before she had to defend herself.

Blinded by her focus, she swung her blade one final time and staggered forward when it encountered nothing.

With no strength left, she fell to her knees and sat there, panting for a long moment before finally lifting her eyes to look around for some other source of trouble. Instead, she found the three kids, Donald and Goofy standing nearby. "Shora!" Donald called and threw something at her. Flinching, thinking it was some sort of weapon, she tried to bat it away, but the thing exploded on impact with her hand, dusting her with a green flash. Watching in fascination as the scratches and cuts on her arms healed, she looked up at Donald and gasped for air before saying, "Thanks." Of course. This was an Acid Dream, why not have healing potions? Donald and Goofy seemed quite familiar with them, after all, so why shouldn't she? She was Sora, who was their friend... _'Right?'_ she pleaded of her sarcastic-self.

The tall blonde kid walked over and offered his hand down, which she took and gladly let him assist her to her feet. "Still tough as ever, eh Sora?" the boy asked and grinned, punching her shoulder lightly.

Smiling in return, warmed by the expression of welcome on his face and the open honesty in his eyes, she flipped her hair back from her face briefly, "Of course. I'm a regular space pirate blasting, weird-thing slaughterer!" The boy laughed, lightening her heart still further. Why had no one ever laughed at her jokes before? Were they just not funny till now? "Ah." She added, lifting a finger, "You mentioned those things were attacking the town," it was just something she had to point out, since everyone seemed so relieved that the ones in the alley were gone, and if that was only a fraction of the problem... well, she wanted to make them happy by taking care of the whole problem. They seemed to expect her to be able to. _'Stay out of it. You'd just get in the way,'_ they'd used to say back at school.

Olette, the girl with the pigtail braids, said, "Yes, though the group here was the biggest batch we saw while we were running. They were coming from the Haunted Mansion."

"Sounds like a suitable place for them to have come from," she admitted, wondering where she might find this haunted mansion, but then again, it was probably a matter of elimination. Haunted Mansions were notorious for looking quite haunted, after all. "We'll have to check the whole town though, and see how far those things have gotten."

The three kids nodded, and she looked towards Donald and Goofy for confirmation of this plan. "We'd better hurry, before the Heartless hurt anyone," Goofy pointed out.

"Yeah," she agreed, then looked towards the blonde boy, judging him to be the leader of the little gang.

On cue, he replied, "Seifer and his gang are in the Sandlot right now, they were having a recruitment drive for the Disciplinary Committee. It's really Seifer's excuse to beat up on people, but there were more screams than usual coming from that direction. We'll stay here. You get things done and come back to visit before you go again."

Flashing a smile and honestly warmed in her heart that they would want her to come visit their incredibly awesome hangout spot, she replied, "Of course!" It was the first time she'd been invited into someone's club and she wasn't going to miss it for the world- even if she had to fight another sea of Heartless Crickets and Rubber-men. Turning, she headed off at a run, going down-slope- the direction the blonde boy had glanced when he'd mentioned the Sandlot.

Even just jogging, she found that Donald and Goofy could hardly keep up, so at the top of the stairs leading down the hill and out of sight, she paused, waiting for them, listening to the screams that were coming from below. "Come on you guys!" she called at the two, turning to bounce on her toes impatiently. "Oh- just meet me there! They need help!" Turning away before her companions could catch the breath to speak, she dashed off down the stairs, taking them three at a time in leaping bounds. She'd had to learn how to run without tiring herself out long ago- a skill that had been learned shortly before her introduction to street-fighting when her harassers had figured out that to torment her they had to pin her before she could run.

The thought made her pause at the bottom of the steps.

_'What am I doing? Running TO danger? That last fight hurt... a lot. Yet...'_

_'You're doing the right thing,'_ the new Voice in her head said kindly and she decided she liked this Voice. The other was always so negative. _'You're wasting time though,' _the male Voice continued,_ 'people are getting hurt!'_

Startled from her thoughts, she looked around, finding that most of the people in the square were down on the ground, trying to defend themselves from the attacking Heartless Crickets. Only four were still on their feet: a tall blonde, a tall dark-haired brown-skinned guy, a young woman with silver hair, and a little kid with a large hat. Calling her Keyblade to her hand, she darted out into the chaos, heading towards the closest person that was on the ground. Not knowing or caring who he was, she stood over him, knocking the Heartless back with sure, quick strikes, and finally, the young man behind her got to his feet.

"Thanks!" he gasped and ran for it, heading up the alley to get away.

Donald and Goofy passed him, and she turned towards them briefly, "Clear the way to get people out of here!" she told her companions and dashed on to find the next person who was down.

Focusing on her task, she hardly recognized when there were no Heartless left, and blinked as she staggered to a stop. "Shora!" Donald shouted and she turned just in time to watch the duck throw something at her. Again, she caught it and it exploded in her hand, healing her wounds with green warmth. She smiled, proud that she'd not flinched this time.

"So, Sora," the tall blonde man with the long coat and black hat stated sarcastically, "You're back. Odd how you and trouble always seem to show up hand in hand..."

Goofy stepped between them before the blonde could get to her and said, "That wasn't nice at all, Seifer. Gawrsh, and after we just helped you!"

Looking away, she shifted nervously, disliking Seifer's tone of voice. He sounded like Gary.

A startling touch to her arm had her jumping away, heart hammering as she fell into a defensive crouch- only to discover that it was the little kid with the tall floppy hat. "Um..." the kid said softly, barely audible, "You dropped this," he said, holding up her wallet.

Blushing, she straightened, "Oh... thanks," reaching out, she took it, meeting the strange little boy's eyes for a long moment. _'Kindred spirits, we are, hmm?'_ she thought to herself and knelt, smiling fully for the boy. She wasn't going to throw an act of kindness back at him the way everyone else did to her- that was for sure. "Thank you," she said with more surety this time, "That was very nice of you."

The boy looked down, clasping his hands together shyly.

"Vivi, come," Seifer ordered and turned, starting off across the Sandlot, his other two friends following behind.

Vivi lifted his head and looked towards Seifer, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. Smiling again, she lowered her voice and told the strange little boy, "You can make friends just by being yourself, you know?"

The boy's large yellow eyes widened, then he seemed to smile and gave a nod. "Thank you." With that, she released him and he tottered off after Seifer. Whether what she'd said helped him or not, she wasn't sure, but he seemed to appreciate the encouragement and she stood, looking down at her pocket to find that it was ripped, which was probably why her wallet had fallen out. Sighing, she put it in her other pocket and turned towards Donald and Goofy.

"What'd you say to him, Sora?" Goofy asked.

"Maybe... something that will help him figure out how to be himself? I don't know," she just hoped he had better luck at it than she did. "We'd better get moving, though."

They exchanged nods and turned, homing in on the sounds of screaming.

Heading beneath the arch on the other side of the Sandlot, the three of them dashed up a ramp and came to a stop. "Look there, Sora!" Goofy gasped, pointing towards a crack in the wall where Heartless were pouring out.

"That must be where they're coming from," she replied, "We should probably stop them at the source before finishing clearing out the rest of town. Otherwise they'll just come back in behind us," despite the fact that they were now leaving the town defenseless. But no... Seifer and Vivi and the other two were out fighting, and they'd survived against the Heartless well enough in that first battle. She clenched her fist. "I'll just have to hope they'll be enough till we finish here," she muttered to herself and slashed her Keyblade downwards in emphasis before dashing forward, swinging her weapon in wide arks to slap the Heartless Crickets out of her path. Donald and Goofy pulled up the rear as they forged through the army of darkness that blocked their way. "Don't bother destroying them all," she shouted at her companions, "Have to stop them at the source! Kill their commander!" all sorts of army movies and TV shows floated through her head, but too fast for her to make a good strategy based off any of them. Giving up on that distraction, she turned her attention back to the fight, putting her weight behind a thrust with her Keyblade to stab through four Heartless that had been standing in a line.

They weren't to bright, she figured, _'They just keep walking right into my swings, actually.'_ Not that she was complaining, but her arm was getting tired.

"Shora!" Donald shouted and the explosion of green revitalized her once more.

"Thanks!" she shouted back over the boom and crackle of Donald's fire and Goofy's silly battle-cry as he threw himself into a crowd of Heartless, making them burst into black smoke.

Before she realized it, they'd fought their way through the crack in the wall and out into a forest. Still, just following the direction the Heartless were coming from, she forged onwards. Even though she'd told the other two not to try and defeat all of them, she figured the more she killed now, the less would actually get into town.

The battle carried them through the forest, and she dashed forward through a break in the press of Heartless, bursting out from beneath the trees into a sunlit clearing. Goofy and Donald staggered up behind her in the suddenly empty area, taking positions at her back.

"Gawrsh! There's no one here!" Goofy observed.

"The Heartlessh dishappeared behind ush too!" Donald added.

Drawing a breath, she was about to answer when a soft laugh interrupted her. Her companions partially turned, looking towards the open gates of what was unmistakably a Haunted Mansion, gaping as reality split open right between the wrought iron posts of the gate, and from it stepped a tall hooded figure. "So we meet again, Sora," the man beneath the hood said. All she could see was his chin and lips as they smirked. "You may have thought you'd beaten us last time, but we found a way to come back. You see... A soul can continue to exist, even without the heart or body. It is only a matter of time before the heart, released from Kingdom Hearts becomes a Heartless again, and a Soul released from the body becomes a Nobody again. Your fight is futile, and Darkness will win. One way or another."

"Organization Thirteen!" Goofy gasped, putting a general name to the being that stood before them, framed by his portal of darkness.

Straightening, she lifted her Keyblade, pointing it at the man, "Are you the one summoning the Heartless here?" she demanded to know.

He smirked again, "Of course. Maleficent and the Organization have struck a deal- one satisfactory to us all. Unfortunately, you're still useful to us, as are Riku and Kairi. For _now_... we'll let them, and the king live." Donald and Goofy gasped, but the hooded man continued before they could say anything further, "But only if you do what we want. The moment you become inconvenient... well. Riku is less powerful now that he's given up the Darkness, but he's still good enough for _our _purposes."

Turning away, the man in the hood started to step back into his darkness portal when he looked over his shoulder and said sarcastically, "Go then. Save the town. Just know that it will eventually belong to us no matter what you do now."

With that, he disappeared, leaving her to stand there gaping and wondering, _'I think I should know who that man was... but I have no clue and not even a hint of Déjà vu.'_ Closing her eyes, she pressed her left arm across her face, grinding her teeth as she tried to recall.

"Sora- it'll be awright," Goofy tried to comfort her. "We'll go after him later."

Opening her eyes and looking up at him, she answered, "I'm fine. The town is in trouble though." Before either Donald or Goofy could make further comment, she dashed off, heading back into the forest to catch the stragglers that were lurking there. What a mess this was turning out to be. At least the army had stopped coming, but it looked like it would take a long time to get rid of this infestation of Heartless Crickets and Rubber-men. With little choice left to them, Donald and Goofy dashed after her, trying to catch up.

* * *

_AN:__ If any paragraphs or sentences look odd, please tell me and they will be fixed ASAP._

_Next Chapter:The short moments of happiness in a life shrouded by dark fog should be cherished... You never know when they may be ripped away. Donald and Goofy take our Hero to see Yen Sid and get some disturbing news._


	3. Gifts with Price Tags

_Chapter 3_

_(Gifts with Price Tags)_

It was dark, the sky lit by innumerable stars, by the time she, Donald, and Goofy staggered back to the Usual Place. No Heartless attacked them along the way, which was a relief, for she doubted she could have defended herself against even one more- even if a breath from her would have killed it. She just didn't have the breath to spare for anything other than powering her weary legs down the hill from the train station plaza. They'd had to fight all the way up there, to the other side of town, back down, and then hit the places they'd already cleared out before because as she'd predicted, the army had marched in behind their group and retaken areas that they'd already cleared. Now, however, the town was actually emptied of Heartless.

At least she wasn't the only one drained of energy, Donald and Goofy were dragging along behind her as she wandered through the streets, finally locating the back alley and Hayner, Pence, and Olette's hangout spot was located. Pushing the curtain aside, she stepped in and looked around.

No one was there.

Oh well. She just didn't have the energy to go any further. Instead, she came to the middle of the room and sat down on the floor, then toppled over onto her side, eyes falling shut. She'd slept on far more uncomfortable floors than this one countless of times. What made this floor so much better was that the people who owned it actually _liked_ her and wanted her to come visit them. She figured that was an invitation to use their spot to crash for a while too.

"Sora?" Goofy asked, sitting beside her and shaking her shoulder.

"Hmm?" she mumbled.

"Are you okay?" Donald asked in the darkness, falling to a seat where he was.

Curling up, she smiled, "Um-humm... tired." That was all she had the energy to say, though she did take a moment to bask in the glow of their concern. Goofy's hand felt so warm on her shoulder, and after a moment it lifted, the giant bipedal dog-man lying down on the floor beside her.

Donald dropped down onto his stomach on her other side, bracing her between them. Letting her breathing even out, she lay still, her eyes closed, head pillowed on her arm as she listened to the strange sounds of a night in Twilight Town.

She was nearly asleep when Goofy asked softly, "Sora?"

Not wanting to answer him this time, she remained silent. Goofy sighed, "Donald? Are you asleep?" he whispered more quietly this time, sitting up behind her.

Donald answered, "What?"

"Shh," Goofy insisted, "Is it just me... or is Sora acting a bit strange?"

Fully awake now, Donald sat up and whispered as best he could, "Yeah, a little, but... Maybe they're messhing with hish memoriesh again?"

Goofy paused for a long moment before answering that, "But... last time, _we_ forgot everything too. _Everyone_ forgot Sora, actually."

"Maybe they figured out how to aim it only at Shora?" Donald hypothesized, "To make him forget what the Organization did last time- sho... sho he would make Kingdom Heartsh again!"

Swiftly, Goofy reached across and clamped a hand on Donald's beak, "Shhh! Don't wake him! He fought hard today... and ...and if he's really lost his memories, then he probably doesn't even know what's going on."

Donald pulled free, but at least kept his voice down this time, "Maybe," he agreed, "Probably. But he called us by name. He must remember us...?"

"Gawrsh... I don't know, Donald. I somehow don't think he does remember us. The best we can do for him is take him to Yen Sid, maybe he'll know what to do?"

"Yeah," Donald agreed softly, "Yen Shid _doesh_ live nearby. We'll go there tomorrow."

Perhaps they exchanged a nod, perhaps not, but either way, the two of them settled down into silence again, Goofy putting his back against hers and Donald softly beginning to duck-snore a few minutes later. Relieved that they were done conversing, but disturbed about their observations, she lay with her eyes closed, wondering who Yen Sid was and what he might possibly do to jog her memories. Probably Donald and Goofy were right about whatever they'd been talking about and it was their enemies that were messing with her head. She'd been doing the right thing in following them after all.

_'Either that, or they're the ones messing with your head,'_ whispered her Negative Voice.

_'Shut up and let me go to sleep,'_ she told her Voice, the only constant companion. Not a friend. Never a friend. She was too old to have imaginary friends, and honestly, anytime she imagined having friends, they always ended up stabbing her in the back.

_'Just like these two will. Don't trust them. You can't trust anyone. All they want is to own you. You're a tool and nothing more.'_

Tears sprung to her eyes and she opened them, carefully sitting up and looking around the dark room. Starlight glimmered through the holes in the curtain over the door and by that faint light, she carefully got up and stepped over Donald, heading to the other side of the room. There was only so much close contact she could handle with people before she started to think things that were best left in the realm of amorphous-thoughts. _'They don't really want me,'_ she told herself, agreeing with her Voice, _'I'm just a tool for them. I've got a Keyblade and they don't. Maybe they want me to make this Kingdom Hearts too? I don't know how I'd go about doing that, but... You're right. I can't trust anyone.'_

With that, she lay down again, curling in the corner with her back to the rest of the room.

* * *

A hand touched her shoulder, and though it was the lightest of brushes, she was instantly up and had leapt halfway across the room before she blinked sleep from her eyes. Five pairs of eyes were staring at her. "Sora? You awright?" Goofy asked, standing next to where she'd been sleeping only seconds before. 

Shaking her head, she scrubbed her face, "You startled me," she complained, "I didn't sleep well." The three kids that had claimed the building as their hangout place had just walked in, Olette carrying a box.

"Hey," Olette said, "I brought breakfast."

"We didn't think you'd be here still though," the pudgy kid with dark hair added.

The tall blonde nodded, folding his arms, "There's no Heartless in town anymore, though."

She scrubbed her face a bit more and replied, "Breakfast is good," dropping her hands she looked towards the blonde boy and answered him and the dark haired boy at the same time. "It was late by the time we finished hunting down the Heartless, so– you don't mind that we crashed here for the night, do you?"

"Why should we?" Olette replied with a smile and stepped forward, setting her burden down on the floor and knelt there to unpack it. "You did the town a big favor, Sora."

Smiling slightly, she nodded to the other girl, "I did," she agreed faintly, trying to think of something that might come back and bite her for that favor. Maybe she killed someone's pet Heartless while she was slaughtering the rest of them? Maybe even the blonde kid's? Or Seifer's. Now there was an enemy she didn't want to make.

Reaching into her box, Olette pulled out a pastry and offered it to the other girl. Stepping forward, she took it and smiled, "Thanks, Olette." Taking a step back and finding a place to flop and eat, she watched Donald and Goofy claim a pastry for themselves as well.

Turning to the blonde, Olette said, "Here, Hayner." Pulling another out, she smiled and said, "Here Pence."

With everyone now eating, silence fell for a time and silently, she watched from beneath her bangs.

After swallowing, Hayner turned towards her and said, "We haven't seen you in a year, Sora. What've you been doing all this time?"

Lifting her eyes, she scrubbed a still-damp sneaker on the floor, "This and that. Mostly school," she admitted, adding something concrete into her reply to deflect them from realizing how vague her answer had been. She didn't want to admit that 'this' was rehab and 'that' was juvenile community service in lieu of getting sent to prison for shoplifting, which she'd not actually committed the crime of but had been with the boy who had, and of course he'd shoved the goods into _her_ pockets.

Hayner rolled his eyes, "School, ugh, _don't_ remind me!"

Olette laughed, "at least it's the weekend."

"Hey, Sora," Pence said, "Is that a camera?"

Looking down at her cheap digital camera, she nodded, "I think it got dunked in salt-water though. Not sure if it still works." Popping the last of the pastry in her mouth, she dusted her hands off on her shorts and picked up the camera, hitting the button to turn on the screen. Surprisingly, it turned on. Hitting the flash, she took a picture with a flicker then pop of light and grinned, "Wow. This thing's durable," she observed then lifted the camera and Hayner, Pence, and Olette gathered together, grinning. A flash later and she admired her picture.

"Where's the film?" Pence asked, amazed.

"It's digital," she replied and got up moving over to show them how the camera worked, flipping past their picture to the picture she'd taken of her knee. "I can even delete pictures I don't want, like this one." She deleted it and the three kids saw themselves perched on the couch again. Lifting the camera, she aimed it at Donald and Goofy, "Smile!" she said cheerfully and the two did so. A flash later and the picture was visible on the preview screen.

"That's amazing, Sora," Pence said.

Olette and Hayner nodded in agreement, and she smiled back at all three of them, starting to feel wanted once more. It was a strange but comforting feeling, and it was strong enough to silence her Negative Voice for the time being.

_'There's no need to fear them,'_ she told herself, _'They're your friends. Your Real friends. They'll look out for you and be there when you need them.'_

Donald finally spoke up, "Hey Shora, we should get going. We should go shee Yen Shid, King Mickey'ss old teacher. He might know where to look for Malefichent and Organizshation Thirteen."

Uncertainty crept into her heart like a skulking bandit, stealing away bits of her warmth. "Right," she answered. "We should find out where Riku and Kairi are too," she added promptly, having almost forgotten the other two names the hooded man had mentioned. Goofy and Donald exchanged relieved looks.

"Kairi?" Hayner asked, "She's in trouble again?"

Scratching the back of her head, she could do little but shrug, "Maleficent and the people in the black hoods have her, Riku, and the King. They want me to be good and follow their orders. I don't think I will." Lacing her fingers together, she put her hands behind her head and flashed a cocky grin. Looking towards Donald and Goofy, she dropped her hands again and said, "But it is a serious problem, so we'd better get serious about dealing with it."

Thankfully she didn't have to ask Donald or Goofy to lead the way, for they nodded in agreement with her and Goofy said, "Sorry we have to go so soon, but we'll come back."

Prompted by the sharp pain in her heart at the thought of leaving the three she'd only just met, she replied, "Yeah. Promise!" She'd managed to not choke on her own voice and squeak in a un-boylike way. Thank heaven for small blessings. She knew she'd probably never see these people again. Promises she made to others, she tried to keep at least, but promises other people made to her were always broken.

Dropping her eyes before her thoughts were obvious on her face, she rearranged her expression to flash an unfelt smile. It felt plastic. Hayner, Pence, and Olette didn't seem to believe it either, but they smiled bravely in return.

It was definitely time to go.

Breaking the deadlock, Donald and Goofy started off, and with little choice, she followed, wishing she could whine at them like she'd whined at the child support services woman who'd picked her up from her first foster home after only being there a year, _'Please! Give me another chance! Please! I don't want to go!'_

Squinting against her tears, she tried to pretend it was the light of the rising sun stinging her eyes as she stepped out of the hangout spot. Lifting an arm, she shaded her eyes with her sleeve and muttered, "Bright out today..."

Donald and Goofy looked back at her, then exchanged Knowing Looks. Apparently, they saw right through her attempts, and furious with ...something, she jogged past them, then stopped and turned, not knowing where they were supposed to be going.

Goofy gestured as they turned left, "This way, Sora. To the Station."

Right. She could find the Station again just fine now that she'd been told where they were going. With so many emotions coursing through her veins, she felt bottled, and ran ahead again, full of energy despite wearing herself out the day before. She was starting to wonder if this was a dream of some sort. The fights had hurt, she'd dreamt last night, she felt the same as always this morning. _'What happened that night...?'_ Narrowing her eyes as she continued jogging, going onto auto pilot- consequentially leaving Donald and Goofy behind- she tried to think back.

_'Are my memories faulty? What is real? Is this real? Was my life before real? Did I get an entire two years wiped from my mind by the freak in the black cloak or... is there some other explanation?'_ frowning in concentration, she easily dodged early risers that were exiting their houses and heading around town on their own business. Some waved and called to her, but she didn't wave back, too lost in thought.

_'Gary had... had gotten our current foster parents to yell at me again. I'd... what had I done? No wait... Wait I actually DID do it this time! But he'd ruined my diary- because he couldn't read it. So I'd dumped all his drugs into a pile in the back yard and lit them and left them and he attacked me so ... I fought back. Then our "parents" had come out and Gary had said I'd lit some of his stuff on fire. There were only ashes by then and the lingering scent of pot. I'd – I yelled back at them... what had I said?'_

Closing her eyes, she could almost see the scene. Almost...

_"You're so stupid! You and everyone else always thinks he's an angel behind that angel face and you never believe me when I say I didn't do it, well fine! This time I did! I burned his stash of drugs because I'm tired of going to rehab FOR him and if you don't like it well- well- just stick it in you ear because I don't care! I'm leaving and never coming back and if you see me again it's because I'll be DEAD! And it'll be YOUR fault! Does that make you happy?"_

"_SORA!_"

Staggering to a stop, she blinked and looked around, finding that she'd been jogging in circles around the station plaza, waiting for Donald and Goofy. "Sorry," she said faintly, shaken by her recollections. "I was... just trying to remember some things," she admitted. Maybe they _would_ help her sort it out? This was getting unnerving the more time she spent here.

Donald and Goofy, predictably, exchanged looks, then turned towards her, "Did ya remember anything?" Goofy asked.

Picking at the hem of her shirt, she shifted and looked down, "A little, but it's not relevant to what's been going on. Sorry... I- don't mean to let you guys down."

"Aww, Sora," Goofy said. Donald padded over and reached out to pat her back lightly. "It's awright. We know you're trying and we figured out that ya couldn't remember. You're doing well and I'm sure Yen Sid will put ya right."

She smiled at them both, "Thanks... for believing in me," she said faintly, "...your the first," she admitted, then blushed, silently cursing her tongue. "Let's go see him then," she added, trying to change the subject quickly and smiled at them both.

Nodding, Donald agreed, "Shure!" and turned, heading towards the large glass doors. Inside the train station, there were two trains, one that was the in-town line that they'd ridden before, the other was a train no one else seemed to notice. Goofy bought tickets for them at the booth and together they boarded the train.

Pausing to look up and down the car, she frowned faintly, "We're the only ones?" she asked, feeling better about asking questions, since Goofy and Donald knew she didn't know anything. There was nothing to hide. Heading to a seat, she partially turned on it to stare out the window and added, "It wasn't lying... was it? I just didn't know... you two seemed to know me and so I thought that if I just went along with it, I'd figure out something of what was going on-"

The train thumped as it started up and started rolling.

Her eyes widened, fingers clenching the back of the bench as terror choked her breath.

_She sat on the back, watching the town fade into the dark. Little specks of light. Like light on water. Gone into the distance. The train's breaks squealed, the horn blew- blew again- continued blowing. A shudder went through the car she sat on. More shudders and a wrenching twist. She clutched her narrow perch throughout the unexpected motion. The sound of explosions behind her had her turning. Everything went into slow motion as she moved- and bright light pierced the darkness as the propane tank behind her exploded._

Blinking, she stared up at Goofy's nose and Donald's beak and gasped for air, suddenly cold and hot at the same time. "Sora!" the two called at her.

"Shora, what happened!" Donald continued before Goofy could breathe again.

Trembling and unable to stop, she curled up like a dying ant on the floor of the train, unable to speak to them, to explain herself. She wasn't even sure why she was on the floor now. Maybe she'd fallen down? Terrified, she curled in on herself tighter, panting for air even as she hid her face and soaked her torn and ragged blue jean shorts with her tears. As if they weren't salt-stained enough as it was.

Goofy and Donald continued trying to get her attention, but she just wanted to be left alone. There was little they could do about her own mind attacking her like that, so they just needed to butt out of it. Why did they care anyway?

_'Because they're your friends,'_ the Positive Voice whispered to her, _'Friends are supposed to care.'_

_'Are they?'_ she demanded of the Voice. _'How could I possibly know what Real Friends are like? How! How could I EVER recognize something like that when I've never HAD friends before?'_

_'There's a first time for everything. You just have to open your heart.'_

_'And get hurt all over again, and again, and again!'_

_'Open your heart,'_ he repeated firmly.

"Sora- please speak to us!" Goofy was begging and the anguished tone of his voice finally broke her.

Sniffling, she pushed herself up and turned, flinging herself against his shoulder and burst into tears again, unable to help herself. "I- I don't know!" she sobbed, feeling Donald close in behind and hug her back, "I don't know what happened!" her voice sailed upwards into a squeak and she shut her mouth, refraining from speaking any further for fear of gibbering. Unfortunately, fear of gibbering didn't replace her terror, which made her heart hammer for the entire trip. When the train stopped, she released Goofy and staggered to her feet, running out the door as fast as she could and stopped once she was at least fifteen feet away from it. Her companions weren't far behind at least.

Sniffling, she wiped her face with her hands and breathed, "It's official," she stated, "I don't like trains anymore."

Donald approached and stepped in front of her, looking up with concern in his eyes, "What happened?"

It took her a moment to recover enough to explain what little she did remember. "I- ...I'm not sure," she said hesitantly, "It was like a memory, but I- don't know how I could have survived it if it really happened. I was..." she scrubbed her face, "I'd caught a train- I was sitting on the last car- a car carrying a tank of gas- for heating houses and stuff. The train... I think it derailed. The tank exploded. I-" lifting her eyes, she stared at Donald, then looked at Goofy, "I'm sorry, it wasn't anything- just something in my head and I overreacted."

Shaking his head, Goofy replied, "I think we should talk to Yen Sid. Maybe it really was something?" Reaching over, he placed a hand on her shoulder and guided her across the short expanse of lawn towards an incredibly tall and oddly shaped tower. Craning her neck, she stared up, and up at it, then blinked as she had to mind her footing as Goofy guided her up the front steps. Opening the door for her, Goofy waited for her to step in first. Donald followed, and the door boomed shut after the tall dog-man. Looking around the small round room at the foot of the stairs, she sighed.

"We're going to have to walk up all of these?" she asked mournfully.

Goofy laughed, "Hyuck! Maybe ya shouldn't have jogged so much earlier?" he teased.

Flushing, but smiling briefly, she agreed, "Maybe. And maybe I can still beat you up them!" Dashing forward, she started up the stairs, leaving the other two to catch up- if they could.

Hundreds of steps later and laughing even though she was out of breath, she slapped a hand to the door at the top of the steps a second before Goofy hit it, and Donald was quick behind. "I win!" she claimed.

"Thish part!" Donald pointed out and opened the door, bursting past them over to the next door and up the next flight of stairs.

In the end, she still won, despite giving Goofy and Donald a head-start on some parts of the journey up, taking a moment to catch her own breath before heading onwards. Reaching the final door, they all paused to breathe and straightening her stained and ratty clothes, she lifted a hand and politely knocked on the door to Yen Sid's chamber.

The door immediately swung open, leaving her standing there awkwardly with her hand still raised. What was unmistakably an old wizard- with rather buggy eyes- sat behind an old desk, a book placed in front of him. He eyed the trio in his doorway, and finally, after swallowing, she stepped in and came to a stop in front of his desk. Donald took his place on her left and Goofy on her right as the old wizard looked them over. "I see," he mulled, lifting a hand to stroke his beard, then took a breath, "What do you need?"

"Well, Yen Sid, sir," Goofy started, "Uh, well, we were wondering if you might be able to tell us something that could help us find King Mickey, Riku and Kairi."

"And help Shora get hish memoriesh back," Donald added, "We think Organizshation Thirteen hash meshed with them again."

The man addressed as Yen Sid's eyes narrowed, "_Sora_'s memories are fine." Before anyone could speak, he continued, "That isn't what is important at this time, however. Heed my words carefully now, for the future depends upon it." The three of them nodded and he continued, "To defeat the past you must realize that nothing is broken and nothing is whole. Seek the Fallen Garden, there you will find the remnants. You must uncover the past, and only when all the pieces are in place can you destroy nothing."

Silently, she mouthed the words then nodded, relying upon her quick memorization skills to commit it to memory word for word. "I'll remember it," she promised.

Yen Sid nodded, "Now," he looked at her, "You can hardly wear those clothes for much longer." Lifting a hand, he pointed towards the door on his left, "go."

Blinking at this weird order, she nervously gave a nod and turned, glancing at Goofy and Donald as she padded across the room. This time, the door opened before she could touch it, and after stepping in, it closed firmly behind her.

"Oh! What a dreadful mess!" a woman huffed as she bustled over, pattering around the girl as she looked her over, "This wont do at all!"

Flushing and feeling she had to defend the clothes if not her treatment of them, she replied, "They were good four days ago." The blue jean shorts were ragged on the ends, especially in front of her knees where they were now torn and blood-stained. Her tee-shirt was second-hand and had once probably been white but was now quite brown and crusted with sea salt. Her shoes were a year old with the soles coming off and caked with mud and stains. Her socks had once been white and had also once come up to her knees, hiding her bruised shins. Now they were little more than rags wrapped around her ankles, her shins, which had been gouged and bloody were now fully healed due to Donald's healing potions, but the blood still stained the socks.

The fairy woman in green shook her head, clicking her tongue and stated again, "Whether they were good four days ago doesn't matter, this won't do _now_."

"I agree," said a fairy woman in red, putting her fists on her hips.

The Blue fairy nodded as well and lifted her wand, stating, "Let's do first things first."

Unable to stop herself, she flinched from the shot the Blue Fairy threw at her. It hit anyway, and after a moment, she realized what had happened. Lifting a hand, she stared at it, finding the dried blood was gone, the dirt beneath her nails was gone, and further- after touching it to make sure- she found that even her hair was clean. Well, that had been quick and painless. However, by the way the three fairies were now huddled as if they were discussing plays at a Football game, she feared what their second task would be.

Finally nodding, the three turned to face her and lifted their wands. Again, she flinched, expecting a blow that never came and looked down at herself. Fury made her cheeks burn red, "A _dress_?" she hissed, "How- could you put me in a _dress_! A _pink_ dress for that matter! I can't fight in this!"

"Oh dear," the Green Fairy replied, "I suppose that is a problem."

"Perhaps you'd like it better blue, to match your eyes?" the Blue fairy offered, as if that were consolation.

Clenching her fists, the girl ground her teeth at the old biddy ladies and growled, "Absolutely not. I'd rather _die_ than be seen in public wearing a _dress_." Actually, there'd once been a time when she'd always worn cute clothes and had long hair, but that was in the past, and she'd since learned that pretty orphans were easy pickings for predators.

Again, the ladies huddled together and whispered, finally coming to a new decision and turned, aiming their wands once more. Still unable to stop herself from flinching, the girl looked down at herself to find she was wearing long dark green cargo pants, a hip-length black shirt that was a lot tighter than anything she normally wore. It was also sleeveless with a high collar with Chinese style buttons down the front, bordered by gold on the hems. A black leather belt was wrapped around her waist with gold straps crossing over her hips, hanging from which were black side-packs that were strapped to her thighs. On her forearms were dark green thumb-socks and a pair of thin silver bracelets on each wrist. At least her breasts were still squashed flat by the sports bra she wore beneath her new clothes. Looking down at herself, she frowned and opened the side-packs, finding her wallet and camera in one and in the other a set of six hairclips and a comb. One pair of the clips had roses on them, one pair with morning glories, and one pair with daisies bordered by green leaves. The small comb was silver and ivory with green gems set into it.

"There!" all three of the fairies said in unison. "I believe this is the first time we've agreed on anything so quickly," continued the Red fairy.

"I think so too!" replied the Green, and Blue just giggled.

"Now dear," the Red fairy explained, "Your new clothes are special. They're resistant to wrinkles, tears, and stains- and they'll also allow you to channel certain spells cast upon you into attacks. You'll have to talk with Donald about the possibilities of that in battle."

Pattering over, the Blue fairy moved behind the girl, placing her hands on her back and pushed her forward, further into the room, "Come, come! You haven't even looked at yourself!"

Unable to fight- and not all that inclined to resist, she allowed herself to be pushed and came to a stop in front of one of the mirrors the Red fairy uncovered. Gasping, the girl lifted a hand to her mouth. "Oh-" lifting both her hands, she touched her hair and experimented by pulling it back out of her face and holding it there. "I-... You're sure I can have this?" she asked, uncertainty coloring her voice as she looked towards the fairies. All three of them nodded.

"Of course you can, dear!" the Red fairy insisted.

Flushing, she admired herself in the mirror a little more, "I haven't had anything _new_ before," she said finally. "I almost _look_ like a girl," she admitted, then flushed, glancing at the Fairies and let her hair go, "Or a boy," she smiled, admiring herself by turning partially to get a look at the back. "Maybe- I really _could_ have a boyfriend!" The concept of actually being attractive was very foreign to her and it made her blush quite darkly as she placed her fingers on her lips to hush herself. Her eyes sparkled anyway.

The Fairies giggled, and the girl turned towards them, eyes shining, "Thank you- so much. This is- very nice. I forgive you for the dress. I just don't wear dresses. They're pervert-bait," she explained as carefully as she could. Her smile broke free of her control again, and on impulse, she hugged the three little women. "Thank you!" she said once more and turned, "I have to show Goofy and Donald!" she bounded towards the door and out it, exclaiming right over whatever Donald had been saying, "Look guys! Isn't this cool! I've got new clothes!" she said cheerfully, "And they're all _mine_!"

Donald and Goofy turned to stare at her, not quite comprehending exactly what she was talking about, so she added, "and they reflect magic too!"

"Only offensive spells," Yen Sid put in, "But yes. You look nice," he added, about as blandly as if he were saying that the sky was blue, but after eyeing the old man, she burst into another grin. That was probably about as demonstrative as Yen Sid got, and even complimenting her was probably going far beyond his usual range of emotions.

"Shora," Donald said, "Tell Yen Shid about what happened on the train."

Abruptly stopping her bouncing, she pressed her lips together, unsure of how to proceed. It had taken all she had to tell Donald and Goofy about what had scared her so badly, but as nice as Yen Sid had been- in his own way- she just couldn't. The words stuck behind her teeth in an uncomfortable way that made her jaw ache.

Yen Sid lifted a hand in the agonizing silence and said gravely, "I am not one of the few meant to hear such things. Only those trusted on the deepest level will find what lies in a heart as broken as this one's," he looked her over, "You have difficult choices ahead of you, and I suspect you will survive them, but the best outcome will only occur if you learn to trust. Now. Go. Follow your hearts. Events will reveal themselves."

Caught off-guard, and knowing the man knew far more than he let on, she could do little more than bow respectfully to him, then looked towards Donald and Goofy, "Let's scat then." Heading towards the door, she stopped and turned again, "Thank you, Master Yen Sid," she said. He gave a nod, and she shivered, feeling as if his eyes had pierced directly through her- laying open her chest and exposing her heart. She imagined her heart was made of glass, cracked straight through but somehow still holding together. Who knew how? The world had certainly tried to break her to a million irretrievable pieces time and again. Maybe she survived out of sheer spite?

In any case, she turned away before the old man could creep her out further and dashed off down the stairs, passing Goofy and Donald with a shout of, "Race you!"

The two shouted in return and clattered after her, trying to catch up. She didn't go as fast as she could have, allowing them the hope of beating her. In fact, she was feeling so cheerful she let Donald reach the bottom before her. He crowed and jumped happily, "I won!"

Both she and Goofy laughed, exchanged glances, and laughed all the harder, making her cheeks hurt.

It felt good to laugh like that.

* * *

_AN:__ If any paragraphs or sentences look odd, please tell me and they will be fixed ASAP._

_Next Chapter: Of Kittens and Books and Psychotic Multiple Personalities. It's always shocking to realize that you're plural._


	4. Kittens and Books

_Chapter 4_

_(Kittens and Books)_

"Well, what did Yen Sid say while I was getting new clothes?" she asked, taking a seat in the center chair while Goofy and Donald took their usual chairs.

"That we should go to Disney Castle," Goofy replied, "Donald was trying to explain why we thought your memory was gone, but Gawrsh, Master Yen Sid just didn't seem to be listening..."

Looking down, she tapped her toes on the floor under her chair and said, "I got the feeling that he's the type that only says things once, so you'd better shut up and listen." Lifting her eyes, she smiled at them both and added, "But he said there was nothing wrong with my memory, so maybe the Organization hasn't messed it up. I think... _something_ happened to me shortly before you found me, something that knocked things loose. Maybe the train wreck... I just need time for everything to rattle its way back into place, and that doesn't need baby-sitting. So let's get to something we possibly _can_ do something about- which is getting the King, Kairi, and Riku back."

"Right," Donald agreed, "Let'sh get to Dishney Cashtle!"

"Hyuck!" Goofy agreed, lifting a hand enthusiastically.

She sat back in her chair, glad that they'd not had to ride the train again- she just wondered why she'd not had that problem riding the trolley through Twilight Town. Perhaps it had something to do with the little she'd remembered about the argument with Gary? A cascade of memories? Maybe.

Shaking her head, she lifted her feet to admire her new sneakers. They were black and gold to match the rest of her outfit. How cool was _that_? _Way_ cool.

Lifting her hands, she cracked her knuckles and grinned, "So, how about we give getting to the castle another shot?"

Giving a cheer, Donald and Goofy grinned and turned towards their screens, and a moment later, Donald turned towards her and said, "Why don't you take ush to the door thish time, Shora?"

Looking towards the controls in front of her, she though on that, then nodded, "Alright. It's less dangerous than the last thing you had me doing." She laughed lightly and leaned forward to take the controls. Again, Donald and Goofy laughed with her and she pushed the joystick forward, experimented with a few more of the buttons, and discovered the other weapons and how to boost forward, then took them in the direction Donald told her to go.

It took nearly ten minutes to reach the door they needed, and Donald said, "I think thish ish the door we need."

"Well, better to try than to not. Besides," she said reasonably, "We may need this path again later, even if it's not the right one."

"Gawrsh Sora, hadn't really thought of it that way," Goofy said, scratching the side of his head, then shrugged. "Let's try it then!"

Nodding, she punched forward, diving through the door as it opened. This time, they leapt through the light into a field of asteroids. Ships immediately began popping out of nowhere, shooting at them from all directions. More familiar with the controls this time, she dived and dodged, destroying her enemies with a gleeful grin. "Woo! I'm a Space Pirate Blaster extraordinaire!"

"_SHORA_!" Donald shrieked, throwing his wings up in front of his face in terror as they punched forward- straight towards a spinning asteroid. Abruptly, she jammed the joystick forward and they dived straight downwards, leaving their pursuing enemies to crash into the obstacle before they knew what had happened. Sliding by just under the asteroid, she shot forward again with a hard jab on the thrusters, then rolled aside as a spike from the asteroid loomed up ahead.

"_SORA_!" Goofy shouted this time, covering his eyes as an enemy appeared right in front of them. Again, she rolled aside, then darted around their enemy, hitting the button that would kick out some mines behind them.

"Donald! Take the controls!" she shouted and aimed for the approaching keyhole.

Spurred to action, the duck took hold and she let go, calling her Keyblade and aimed it at the hole. "Open Says Me!" she said cheerfully and light shot out, unlocking the path.

A flash of light later and they were through, her companions panting.

"The paths sure've gotten a lot more dangerous lately," Goofy breathed.

"Look!" Donald bounced in his seat, "Dishney Cashtel! We made it Shora!"

She grinned, "Yeah, I'm good!" she proclaimed and flexed her non-existent biceps. This made her companions laugh once more, which was a good thing to hear, and Donald took over the controls, giving her time to flex her fingers and wipe her sweaty palms on her knees. "So, our itinerary here is to talk to the Queen, check out the scene of the crime, and do some general info-snooping to turn up any other possible leads. Having more than one string to follow is good, especially when all paths lead to the same place."

Donald glanced over, but Goofy was the one who spoke, "Hyuck, that sounds like a plan to me, Sora!" he exclaimed and once their ship was parked in orbit, the three of them got up and headed to the teleport pad. This time, she closed her eyes well in advance and opened them once the flash had gone past her eyelids.

"Well," Goofy murmured, "That's odd. There's no one here."

The room they'd teleported to was a small library and it was also entirely empty of people.

"She'sh ushually here thish time of day," Donald admitted.

"Uh, maybe she's taking care of things the King usually takes care of. After all, someone's got to do his job while he's away," she offered. "More power to her, yeah?" she lifted a fist briefly in rally of female rights and all that jazz. "Let's hunt around," she volunteered as she stepped away from her companions, then paused, turning back towards the other two, "Uh, what does the queen look like now?"

In unison, Goofy and Donald slapped hands over their faces, then pointed towards a portrait hanging on the wall.

Raising her brows, she murmured, "Oh. Right!" shrugging, she turned away and headed on a self-guided tour around the room. "It's said," she murmured, "You can tell what a person is like by the books they read." She eyed the titles of the books. There was one on the second shelf that had neither title nor author, which was odd amidst the line of books that contained both. The book was about an inch thick with a green cover- a cover that looked very familiar. At first, her heart had skipped upon seeing it, _'My diary?'_ she asked herself. However, upon opening it, she'd found she was wrong and instead decided to continue her joke. Putting a hand to her chin, she murmured a few, "Um-hmm," and "I see," noises. Donald and Goofy snuck closer to listen, watching her intently. "I think..." she murmured finally, and trailed off.

"What!" Donald demanded, "what do you think!"

Closing the book she was holding with a snap, she turned an about-face to look at them and puffed out her chest before stating, "I think I know absolutely nothing about judging people by the books they read," she announced, then turned and put the book she was holding back into it's place on the shelf as Donald and Goofy collapsed to the floor behind her.

Behind them, the door banged open and instinct had her dodging immediately to the left and turning. The words 'I didn't do it!' dying on her lips as she spotted a female duck in a purple dress and the queen standing in the doorway. The female duck had apparently been the one to kick the door open, for the queen, a short mouse in a pink and red dress, was saying, "Daisy, I wish you wouldn't abuse my doors like that..."

"Donald!" Daisy shouted, "You skipped out on yet _another_ of our dates!"

"Ouu, _busted_," the tall humanoid girl sniggered.

"Sora!" the queen exclaimed, "I'm so glad they found you!" she padded across the room towards them. Goofy came to attention while Donald tried to explain to his girlfriend about how it was slightly impossible for him to schedule disasters around their dating calendar, and the girl took her cue from Goofy. "I was so worried when Goofy and Donald didn't report back within a few days!"

"Sorry ma'am," the girl explained, "The paths have closed and it took them longer to find me than anticipated. We also had a layover at Twilight Town. Seems the Organization is back, and working with Maleficent."

This caught both Minnie and Daisy's attention and they both gasped. "Oh _no_! This is terrible!" the queen gasped and clasped her hands together and began pacing. "And on top of that, Maleficent captured King Mickey."

"She's got Kairi and Riku as well," the girl added. "Our enemies are trying to use them against me." Except that she had no clue who Kairi and Riku were, but suspected that she should have felt very concerned about the fact that they were captured. After all, why use bait that wasn't tasty to the fish you were trying to catch? Empty hooks only caught old boots after all.

Minnie put her hands to her mouth, "Oh- this just gets worse and worse!" she cried. "All the old paths have been closed and Chip and Dale say they've gotten readings from new worlds!"

"Well- the old ones should be safe. They're closed to the Darkness..." Goofy pointed out, though she suspected that was for her benefit rather than to really remind the Queen about it.

Nodding, the girl added, "then we'll concentrate on doing the same for the new worlds." For confirmation of that, she looked up at Goofy who nodded. "For now though, I'd like to know where and when the King was kidnapped? I'm hoping to get some leads as to where he was taken."

Immediately, Minnie nodded, "In fact, he was right here in this room," she explained, turning and pacing over to the book case the girl had just been standing at. "He'd been looking at one of these books. I- I'm afraid I don't remember which one, though I know it was green." The queen looked over at her, "I had just finished speaking with him about the new worlds and the paths and was leaving when I heard a thump and turned around. That was when Heartless appeared and tackled Mickey before he could draw his Keyblade, then they disappeared."

"Hm." The girl said softly, then turned towards the books, "Can you remember which shelf was missing a book while you were speaking with him?"

Starting to shake her head, the queen paused, then looked and pointed, "Unfortunately, the brooms have cleaned since then, but I believe it was the second shelf."

Blinking, the girl reached out and touched a book, the one she'd been looking at before the queen had come in and pulled it out. The Queen paused, eyes narrowing before she looked up at the girl and said, "You think that's the book he was looking at, Sora?"

"It's out of order with the others," she replied, "The others are in alphabetical order by their authors," the girl pointed out, "This one has no author. I was looking at it a second ago because it was so odd. Maybe there's something more than intuition going on?" she cast a smile at Goofy and Donald and flipped the book open again, taking a closer look. _'Or maybe my luck is finally changing,'_ she added mentally.

Smiling to herself cheerfully, she skimmed her eyes over the pages and leaned back against the shelf behind her as she flipped through the book, unaware that the others were staring at her, waiting for her to come up with something, though usually being the center of attention gave her the creeps. "Hey, can I borrow this?" she asked, looking at the queen, who actually nodded.

"If it's important, I'm sure he would want you to have it," the short mouse-woman said.

Goofy spoke up, "What's in it, Sora?"

"I'm not sure. It's mostly diagrams, but it looks like the plans to a machine of some sort," she said softly, "Not sure of the purpose of it yet, but my rough guess would be a weapon of some kind. I'd have to look at the labels on the diagrams more closely. The writing is faded and hard to read."

"Then take it, Sora," the queen replied.

Closing the book, she opened one of her side-packs and put the book in, "However, that leaves us back on square one with where the Heartless took the King. Common sense says that wherever the king is, Maleficent and the Organization Thirteen leader are, and we can only hope to God that the two of _them_ are squabbling- since that makes our job easier. Divide and _conquer_!" she pumped a fist into the air, then down and gave a victory sign. Sobering once more, she concluded, "Looks like we'll have to play along with their game for now, boys. Keep the bad-guys happy so they don't eliminate me from the game before we've got our counter attack planned. Let's close those new worlds to the Darkness first. Maybe we'll meet a few Heartless Generals along the way and pump them for information?"

Looking up, the queen nodded, worry still in her eyes, "You be careful, Sora. They probably want you to re-create Kingdom Hearts."

Daisy spoke up once more, "And _you_," she said accusingly at Donald, "Get back in time for our _next_ date! Or _else_!"

Donald cowered back from her and said, "Yesh Daishy!"

Sniggering, the girl linked her hands together and put them behind her head, "What a functional relationship," she mused then dropped her hands to look around again, her eyes drifting downwards to a small black and white kitten with a large pink bow that had wandered into the room.

"Hey, who's this?" the girl asked, crouching to hold a hand out to the little kitten. Approaching, the kitten sniffed at her fingers, stretching its neck out as far as it could to keep from getting too close to the stranger.

"That's Figaro," Minnie introduced- just as the kitten took a vicious swat at the girl's hand.

Hissing her breath in, she retracted her finger and frowned, "Beelzebub more like." The kitten hissed, and for some odd reason, that made her want to smile- the little beast was oddly charismatic. Sticking her scratched finger into her mouth and sucking on it, she stood, ignoring the kitten now, since it was determined to be mean. "In any case, I think that's all the information we'll get here for now. We'll try to check in soon- once we know a bit more."

"Please do," Minnie said, sounding almost pleading.

_'Does NO ONE keep this woman informed?'_ the girl thought, meeting the queen's gaze. _'From that look she's giving me... probably not. Poor woman.'_ Taking a breath, she lowered her hand from her mouth and said, "I'll do my best." With that, she, Goofy, and Donald saluted.

"We should go," Donald said sadly. "Shorry Daishy, I'll try to make it back for our nexsht date!"

Grinning, the girl added, "I'll drag him back by his tail, Ma'am."

Daisy laughed, "You do that, Sora. Good bye! Be careful!"

They nodded and stepped away from the two women, the girl adding as an afterthought, "You two stay safe as well. Wouldn't want more hostages added to the mix." _'Or worse,'_ her Negative Voice added sourly.

Again, she failed to blink in time and stood on the teleport pad on their ship for a long moment, thoroughly blinded. "Ahg! Didn't blink again!" she exclaimed, scrubbing her eyes. Donald and Goofy laughed, though it was in sympathy. Finally, able to see slightly, she headed back to her seat and flopped down, "So. Where to, Donald?"

"We're recsheiving the locationsh of the new worldsh from Chip and Dale right now," the duck replied. "Done!"

Her screen lit up with what was apparently a map of the known universe, then the new worlds, highlighted in green question marks. "Mmm," she murmured, gazing at the map. "I guess go to the nearest unknown path and see where it leads." _'Since when did I become an adventuring spirit?'_ she asked herself.

_'Since you had no choice,'_ her Negative Voice sighed, _'You're just setting yourself up for a big fall, going along with all this idiocy. You should have refused them first thing.'_

_'How COULD I? ...maybe I'll never get the chance to BE something again? They seemed to know me anyway...'_ she argued with herself while Donald took their ship in hand and started off.

Her Negative Voice replied, _'Sure, the name Sora is familiar, but... for some reason, I don't think it's OUR name.'_

_'Of course it is. Everyone calls me Sora. How can it not be our name? ...Our. Oh Lord! I'm plural now!'_

_'We were always plural, dummy. Since the beginning,' _the Negative Voice sighed and subsided into silence.

That left her sitting in confusion as she tried asking her Negative Voice, _'Beginning? Of what? When?'_ However, her other voice declined to respond and she was left sitting there by her mental lonesome. Thankfully distraction came when Donald announced that they had reached their destination and she was forced to take the controls yet again.

* * *

_AN:__ If any paragraphs or sentences look odd, please tell me and they will be fixed ASAP._

___Next Chapter: Sky and Ocean- there's a point on the horizon where the ocean and sky meet, a haze that makes the boundary indistinct; where does one end and the other begin?_


	5. Sky and Ocean

_Chapter 5_

_(Sky and Ocean)_

_'Nervous? Determined?'_

Sora frowned, unsure what exactly to call his current mood. _'Frightened?'_ he wondered, walking down the street of Twilight Town at a fairly fast clip. It was afternoon on a Monday, which meant that Hayner, Pence, and Olette were probably out of school by now, which was good, since Sora needed to speak with them. Normally, he too would have been at school, except ...well, things had gotten _weird_ in his life again.

He really did _not_ need this kind of disruption when entering his freshmen year of high school! After all, there were girls to impress- namely Kairi- and guys to hang out with- namely Riku- and the fact that both Kairi and Riku were _missing_ seriously impeded his plans for going to the Island after school and swimming. Kairi looked good in a bathing suit, and Sora knew Riku knew that he'd noticed, and of course Riku knew that Sora knew that Riku had noticed a _year_ ago and was laughing at him about it constantly. _AND_ Kairi didn't seem to know that Riku and Sora had noticed anything at _all_. She was just confused about this new level of competition in her best friends' usual roughhousing- which only made her all the more cute.

So, the fact that Heartless had attacked him on the Island just yesterday while he'd been out hunting in vain for Kairi and Riku had made Sora about as irritated as it was possible for him to get. Admittedly, though he was pretty irritated it was hard to tell on him. Sora just didn't _do_ irritated very well. Riku could, but Riku always looked irritated.

Sora huffed, puffing his cheeks out as he walked, turning right and stepping into the back alley. He'd first teleported from his ship- one of the many he'd had made during his last adventure with Donald and Goofy- to the Usual Spot, since it was a pre-programmed destination and easiest to use, but had found the gang was not there. From then till now, he'd been wandering town, waiting for school to let out. Now that three-o'clock had passed, he figured that his friends here would be in their Usual Place once more. In his wanderings, he'd discovered a few Heartless hiding in the less accessible corners of Twilight Town, and that was something else he wanted to ask Hayner, Pence, and Olette about. ...Along with catching up on stuff with them from the last year.

He grinned, wondering if Olette had changed as much as Kairi had in the last year. As for Sora, he'd shot up in another growth spurt, now nearly matching Riku in height- even if Riku still picked on him about being taller- and Sora imagined that his shoulders had gotten wider. Like Leon's perhaps? Unfortunately, his hair would not behave no matter what length it was, so in the end, he'd defaulted back to his usual style- since it was easier to take care of. It was the Legendary Good-News Bad-News hair. Good news: it looked the same brushed or not. Bad news: ...

Shaking his thoughts away, Sora reached out and pushed aside the curtain covering the door of the Usual Place and stepped in.

"_SORA!_" came an excited cry from three voices.

Grinning, he lifted a hand, "Hey, what's up guys?"

"You're back so soon!" Pence said.

"How'd you get so tall suddenly?" Hayner asked.

Olette had fallen silent and was frowning slightly in confusion.

Silence fell amongst them as Sora stared and blinked a few times, "Wait... what?"

"You were just here. This morning," Olette stepped forward to explain, getting off the couch and displaying how much taller she'd grown- and how much more defined her body had become in the last year. Sora had to take a moment to make note of the changes, simply because- well, as a male, it was his duty! He almost missed her next question. "Where's Donald and Goofy?"

"I haven't seen them," Sora admitted, looking around with a slight frown, thoroughly confused by this odd greeting, "I was kind of looking for them. They were here?"

Hayner, perched on the metal casing he always sat on, turned towards Sora, putting his hands on his knees and leaned forward slightly, "Yes. They were here... with _you_." Hayner had definitely gotten taller and his bone-structure had filled out some from the scrawny teen he'd been before. As for Pence, he was a bit taller, but pudgy as ever.

Looking incredibly confused, Pence added, "Only you were a lot shorter and wearing different clothes." Even if clothes could easily be changed, Sora looked down at himself. He was currently wearing a pair of black knee-length shorts, a loose floppy red tee-shirt un-tucked, and his usual short coat with a hood. Of course, he also had on his trademark necklace and side-packs strapped to his hips and thighs.

"Uh, yes," Sora mused, "These are the clothes I put on this morning," when he'd given up looking for Kairi and Riku on the islands and instead decided to hunt for the new Presence he could feel in his heart.

Olette shook her head, "But you left _here_ this morning, with Donald and Goofy. And you looked like you'd been living in a gutter for a week."

Choking, Sora coughed, "Okay- let's try to start at the beginning here? I think we're having a miscommunication."

Snorting, Hayner replied, "You think? Alright. We'll go first. You showed up yesterday, around noon with Donald and Goofy, just when a bunch of Heartless and Nobodies attacked. You said you'd take care of it and took off to fight them. We stayed here and waited till you got back. It got to be night, so we went home, but by then most of the streets were clear, so it was safe enough. In the morning we came here to see if you'd come back and you'd apparently spent the night here. You said that Maleficent had Kairi and Riku and the King, and that you were going to see Yen Sid. Your turn."

Sora stood there for a long moment, digesting this information. It was a lot to take in all at once, but he shifted and blinked, finally coming back to himself when Hayner cleared his throat. "Okay- that's really strange... Yesterday, I was at home, looking for Kairi and Riku because we were going to hang out. I spent all day looking for them and got attacked by Heartless. So today I decided that something must have happened to them and called a ship. I decided to come here first because... Because I had a feeling that you guys would know where... um." He paused, scratching the back of his head and shuffled. Silence fell again and Sora finished a little belatedly, and quite lamely, "Where Kairi and Riku might be?"

"We've told you all we know, Sora," Hayner pointed out with an open palm. Olette flopped back down onto the couch, folding her arms and crossing her legs at the knees.

"You're _sure_ you're the real you?" Pence asked, just to verify, "I mean, this is a little confusing. How are we to know which is the real Sora?"

Heaving a gusty sigh, Sora shook his head, his shoulders sagging. This was getting to be strange- far too strange for his tastes. "By seeing me with your hearts," he replied evenly, "Your hearts know me."

He had a feeling that the whole issue had started two nights ago. It was then that he'd come awake in a sudden rush, heart pumping in terror as the memory of a dream drifted through his mind like dark fog. He'd been clinging to the back of a train when suddenly, it had derailed and the car he'd been on exploded. The terror of it had jerked him awake in the middle of the night. However, it wasn't until morning when the light of dawn had touched Destiny Island that he'd come to realize that the dream had brought more than dark fog and terror. It had brought awareness of someone that felt so achingly familiar that he was driven with a nearly all-consuming need to find the strange girl he was suddenly aware of and protect her.

The only problem was that he didn't know who she was, what she looked like, or even where she was. All he knew for sure was that she was with some people that he trusted, even if he wasn't sure who _they_ were either. So he'd gone looking for Kairi and Riku, only to waste the day getting attacked by Heartless and not finding hide or hair of either.

_'This is looking to be too big of a task for just one,'_ Roxas commented from the back of his mind. Usually his Nobody just rode along in his heart, silent and content, except lately, he'd been getting restless- and downright frantic at the sudden disappearance of both Kairi and Riku the same night the new Presence had touched his heart.

Pence sighed, "I wish I'd gotten a picture of him. He took pictures of us- with his... his... 'digital' camera. It took pictures but didn't have any film!"

"He really doesn't look much like you now," Olette added, "He's shorter for one thing. And skinnier."

"And really dirty," Pence admitted.

Pulled back to reality, Sora shook his head, "I'll take your word for it," he said, then met the gaze of all three of his friends from Twilight Town, having been led there by _her_ voice from the day before, and the hints as to where she was had been so vague that he'd had to go on intuition alone, playing a cosmic joke of a game of Hot-Cold. Mostly it was the clue of her being so shocked that anyone would really want to invite her to their hangout spot- and especially one so _neat_- that had led Sora to Twilight Town. He'd just assumed that it was the Usual Place she'd been referring to. Unless the blonde she'd been thinking of was Seifer? _Did_ he have a hangout spot- other than the Sandlot? He'd done his best to encourage her to become friends with people- after all, the friends she'd fallen in with seemed like very good people. Even Seifer was good to his friends in his own way. "So my Imposter is yet another thing I've got to hunt for," he sighed.

Olette cocked her head to the side, clasping her hands in her lap where she sat on the couch in the Usual Spot, "What else are you looking for?"

Sora spread his hands, "I'm looking for Kairi, Riku, and the King and Donald and Goofy and my Imposter and a Girl. The Girl... I think she was here- with you guys, at least for a little while," he touched his chest, "I felt her presence for the first time just yesterday, but I don't know why I can hear her, and I don't know who she is or where she is, or even where she's from. I wish I hadn't wasted a day looking for Kairi and Riku!"

"Look. We didn't meet any girls, Sora." Hayner gestured with one hand, then put that hand to his chin as the thought occurred to him, "Just that kid who looked like you... He was really skittish, you know. Never saw anyone jump halfway across a room like that before."

"Goofy startled him, though," Pence objected.

Olette stared down at her knees and added, "He looked..." she started, then paused, trying to find the right word, and finally said, "Scared. The way he was curled in the corner was a lot like that kitten I brought in once."

Hayner and Pence exchanged looks before Pence agreed, "Yeah, that's exactly what he looked like."

"A feral animal," Hayner concluded.

"He was nice," Olette objected, "Just scared."

Snorting, Hayner continued to be obstinate and stated, "Of everything."

"Look!" Sora objected finally, waving his hands, "I get the picture."

Frowning and thumping her fists on her hips, Olette stared up at Hayner as the blonde boy stood, "Why are you so mad anyway?" she demanded.

Folding his arms once more, Hayner looked away, "I just don't like being tricked like that."

Sora sighed again and put in before things deteriorated once more, "I'll get to the bottom of this. I mean, I've had a lot of weird things happening to me lately, so maybe the guy you saw was created by Maleficent or something and meant to separate me from my friends? I'll catch up with him, as soon as I find out where he's going, and find out what's going on."

Pence smiled slightly, "I'm just glad you're alright, Sora," he said, "Though I... have to agree with Olette. I don't think your imposter is aware that he's an Imposter, so go easy on him."

"Unless you're sure he knows what he's doing," Hayner added, "Then, cream him!" he slapped a fist into his palm. "No one messes with my friend's good name!"

Olette sighed, "He hardly did anything bad to _mess_ with Sora's good name. He really helped the town. And he had a Keyblade. That's hard to copy, isn't it?"

That made them all pause for a very long moment and Sora admitted, "You didn't mention that he had a Keyblade. Only someone chosen can use a Keyblade." That meant there were two new Keyblade wielders out there, the Girl and his Imposter.

"So what does that mean? He's chosen too?" Pence asked, leaning forward slightly, hands on his knees. "So he's a good guy, right?"

Sora had to shake his head, "No, not ...exactly. That just means he had to be made from me- as in... made from part of me. But I don't think I'm missing anything currently," the blue-eyed boy looked down at himself, as if he could visually check his heart and soul.

_'We're not missing anything, I think...'_ Roxas put in, _'But then there's that girl that keeps cutting in and out.'_

Finally just shaking his head, Sora admitted, "I think I'll just have to stay on that guy's trail to find both him and hopefully the girl I'm looking for will turn up. I guess she just wasn't here, but I don't know of anywhere else she could have been... And I've got to find Kairi and Riku on top of that."

"And the king," Olette reminded, "He's been captured too."

"Your Imposter said Maleficent was working with Organization Thirteen," Hayner added sourly. "I thought you said you'd beat those guys."

Eyes widening, Sora stepped back and looked from one friend to the next, heart pounding, "The- Organization? But- how! I _know_ I defeated them! Me and Riku made sure Xemnas was dead! And- there couldn't have been more than thirteen members..." Turning his attention inwards, he addressed Roxas, _'Well?'_

_'There were only thirteen and between you and I, we saw twelve of them die, Sora. I don't know what's going on, I really don't. But I'm starting to suspect that this really is a job for two.'_

Except Sora didn't really feel like splitting up with Roxas, though he knew he could trust his Nobody, it was just a matter of... not wanting to be alone. "So where did my imposter say they were going next?"

"To Yen Sid- whoever that is," Hayner flipped a hand absently, kicking his heels against the metal casing he sat on.

Sora groaned, "This just isn't my week! I'll have to go to the Castle once I see Yen Sid and find out what Queen Minnie knows."

Hayner looked away, frowning, "So I guess that means you'll be leaving again," he sighed.

For a long moment, Sora hesitated before replying, "I- have so much to do. I'm sorry guys, I'll come back once everything is sorted out and visit longer. I'll explain everything to you then. Okay?"

"Promise?" Pence requested.

Sora smiled, giving a firm nod, "Promise!"

"Your imposter promised too," Hayner pointed out.

Olette stood and stated, "Sora, make him keep his promise too! I just _know_ he's not a bad person!" she clenched her fingers into fists, stomping her foot lightly in emphasis.

Turning towards her, Sora had to ask, "What makes you think that?"

Looking down, she shook her head slightly, "It's just... the way he acted and this feeling I have," she placed her hand against her heart, "If he's doing anything wrong it's either because he doesn't know anything better or he's being tricked into doing it. But Sora, please, make him keep his promise to visit too!"

Sighing, Hayner added, "Yeah. He's got to apologize for tricking us."

Unable to help himself, Sora laughed softly, "Alright. I'll drag him back too." Stepping forward, he hugged Olette, then offered his hand to Pence, and finally punched Hayner's shoulder lightly. "I'll be back soon!" he promised and dashed out the door, heading up the street to the station, since the quickest way to Yen Sid's place was by the train. Inwardly, Sora sighed as he jogged.

"Hey Sora!" a shop keeper called, and Sora paused, looking over, "Thanks for helping yesterday!"

Flashing a grin and wave, the boy nodded, "All in a day's work, Ma'am! Sorry, I've got to go though!"

"You take care!" the shop owner called back and Sora nodded before starting off once more. In the station, he fumbled with his Munny pouch and finally pulled out enough to pay for a ticket out to Yen Sid's tower. Heading into the car, he sighed, looking around, suddenly feeling very lonely without Donald and Goofy.

_'You've got the two of us,'_ Her voice said with a hint of sarcasm, _'I don't see how anyone could be lonely in MY head. Ha.'_

Unable to help himself, Sora laughed and took a seat on the bench near the door as the train started up with a thump and jerk. _'I guess in some ways, we're never truly alone,'_ he agreed and the feeling of her immediate presence disappeared.

Roxas spoke up in her stead, _'You've got Jiminy,'_ the Nobody pointed out.

"Not yet, Roxas," Sora stated verbally for no other reason than to kill the silence, "There's no point in splitting up now... Who knows what would happen to our link to Her if we did split? You'd have to take half my heart to be a physical presence, after all."

Grumbling, Roxas fell into silence. However, he did have a point, and Sora said, "Jiminy?"

After a moment, the cricket nesting in Sora's hood climbed out, hopping onto the boy's shoulder. "Yes, Sora?"

"How're you doing?" Sora asked, just to make conversation, "Writing everything down?"

Jiminy laughed, "Yes, want to see?"

"Not right yet. I think we need a bit more information before anything will make sense," Sora admitted. "How did the Organization come back, after all, and what did they make- I guess I'll call him Aros for now- out of? And who is the girl and who is she with? I need to find her soon because things are getting dangerous. I feel like I've met her before..."

Taking a seat on Sora's shoulder, Jiminy thought hard on that and finally asked, "Any clues on what her name is?"

Sora stared at the landscape that whipped past outside the train, his gaze shifting from the nearby shrubs and brush to the distant sand of the beach. Beyond that, the ocean sparkled beneath a clear sky, their colors matching and blending perfectly at the horizon.

"I don't know what her name is, but she's the Ocean to my Sky..."

* * *

_AN: If any paragraphs or sentences look odd, please tell me and they will be fixed ASAP._

_Next Chapter: Donald, Goofy, and our Hero, unaware of the one following them, proceed to investigate the first world on their journey._


	6. Welcome to Toontown

_Chapter 6_

_(Welcome to Toontown)_

"Wow, we haven't been here in a long time," Donald observed as they padded down the sidewalk of a strange town full of even stranger people. The buildings all swayed cheerfully from side to side as they hummed a cheery tune and the citizens of the city were all outlandishly non-human in appearance. Overhead, the sky was a bright and slightly unnatural blue with a smiling happy sun bobbing along in time with the singing city.

She squinted, thinking she saw a bipedal cow at an ice cream cart with an attached bicycle on it. _'Hmm... ice cream...'_ she thought and pulled out her wallet to peer into. Only three munny. How much did that ice cream cost? Probably more than she could afford and she sure wasn't going to beg money off Donald and Goofy. It just went against her principles. She put her wallet away with a sigh under her breath.

This was definitely a very strange world in her opinion, filled with cartoon-ish characters that wandered around doing absurd things and it took a lot of self control not to laugh. _'I'm already nuts, after all, I've got two Voices in my head that I've got no control over. This place will just be the knot that ties the straight jacket on me.'_ But of course, she supposed she should have expected to find cartoons running rampant in a place called _ToonTown_, after all. What else could such a descriptive name have referred to? Idly, she played with her necklace, which she'd kept hidden inside her shirt. She'd learned to hide it after having it stolen on more than one occasion. It was merely a silver chain with a 3D diamond shaped crystal pendant. Well, she assumed it was quartz.

"Yeah... bein' here sure brings back memories," Goofy agreed with Donald's comment as they walked. Abruptly he stopped and turned, "Is that who I think it is?" he asked, but began to wave wildly at someone passing the other direction on the other side of the street before anyone could answer his rhetorical question. "Hi there Bugs!" he shouted loudly.

Her attention caught by her companion's reminiscences, she turned and took a breath to ask when Donald and Goofy had been to this place. However, at Goofy's shouting, she clicked her teeth together and just kept her peace, hoping to pick up some things by being the silent observer. Realizing she had the chain of her necklace wrapped around her fingers, she dropped it and stuffed it back down into the high collar of her shirt before anyone noticed it.

Across the street, one of the pedestrians stopped and turned to look around, finally spotting Goofy- and now Donald as well- hopping up and down, waving. Blinking, the rabbit that had been addressed paused and looked both ways before trotting across the street, thankfully there were very few cars on the road- and they too were cartoons. She frowned as she watched a car further down the street swerve and deliberately hit a dog-man that had been on the sidewalk. The man went flying with a warbling shriek and bounced on the ground several yards away, like a bowling pin. Worried about her sanity, she turned her attention back to her companions and the newest arrival, which was a tall bipedal rabbit-man that stood about six feet tall. He was certainly on level with Goofy's height. "Well! If it isn't Goofy and Donald!" the rabbit observed, spreading his hands in a welcoming gesture, "Haven't seen you two in a long time! What's up, Docs? How's life up at that castle?" The rabbit had a definite Queens accent, she observed, blinking.

Donald answered that question, "Great! I'm King Mickey'sh court wizshard now. Goofy ish captain of the knightsh!"

Grinning, Goofy nodded enthusiastic agreement with that and asked, "What about you? You still in the show business?"

Bugs shrugged, "Nyah, it pays, so I do it. Can't seem to get any feature length films, though, just those episode gigs. It stinks. So is babysitting foreign-exchange Toons included on your job description?" Bugs asked, pulling a carrot out of some nonexistent pocket and crunching on it while his other hand gestured to the girl that stood half-hidden behind Goofy, wearing a blank-eyed bland expression.

Turning, Donald reached over and pulled her forward, "Thish ish Shora. He'sh a Keyblade mashter!"

She came back to herself with a blink and gave a slight nod of greeting. Bugs leaned down and peered at her, "Nyah. Doesn't talk much, does he?"

This caught Goofy and Donald's attention and they looked at her fully, "Ah," she said softly, "I talk plenty. When I've got something to say."

Amused, Bugs straightened and put his left hand on his hip, "Well then! Nice to meet you, Shora."

"Sora," she corrected, then added as the thought occurred to her, "It means 'Sky'."

"Huh," Bugs mused, "I don't suppose my name means much of anything," he smirked and took another crunching bite of his carrot and she suspected that eating the thing was as much of an addiction as smoking any cigar had been. "So the king finally got our message. Took him long enough."

Immediately, Donald and Goofy leaned closer, "Huh? What message?" Goofy asked.

She actually took a step back, listening with one ear while the others engaged in their conversation. Her eyes flickered around the happy town, realizing for the first time how quiet it really was. "Nyah," Bugs replied, "I guess not, but since you're here, could you take care of the little problem we've been having?"

Bringing her eyes back to Bugs, she immediately asked, "What is it?" before Donald and Goofy could agree. After all, there were favors and then there were Favors, and in her experience, both could get you in trouble.

Bugs lifted a pinky from his carrot and grinned, "Good question, kid. Listen. There's been a lot of weird stuff going on around here. There've been some real suspicious lookin' characters wandering around lately, wearing all black, and someone's been killing humans and blaming it on us Toons, so now the human's police are wandering our streets 'investigating', only they're never around when the guys in black show up, so they t'ink we're _hidin'_ the stinkers!" Bugs gestured vaguely, the greens of his carrot flopping as he did so, "But they've got it all wrong. We don't want those kinds of guys around, it's bad for business, eh?"

She nodded, "Understandable," she agreed then paused, "We'll need more information before we can really do anything. We'll be around for a while, I think, so if you come across anything more, like say, a picture or get a good look that you can describe to us, come find us. Oh- and we're looking for some people too. They're these really tall guys with long black coats with hoods. They call themselves Organization Thirteen. If you see one of them- well, try not to get caught spying and come tell us immediately."

Peering down at her, Bugs glanced over at Goofy and Donald, then nodded at their earnest expressions. "Eh, those guys sound bad for business too, if you want my opinion. Sure. If I see them, I'll let you know. About time _someone_ got their act together and started working on the problem."

"Gee, Bugs," Goofy said, "We're sorry we didn't get here earlier. Things've been kinda' hectic the last few years, what with trying to stop the Heartless and the Organization before..."

Lifting his brows, Bugs crunched his carrot thoughtfully and said, "So. The guys you're after are a reoccurring problem, eh?" He looked down at his wrist and rolled his fur back to reveal a watch, "Well. I've gotta' split. So long folks."

Giving a wave of her own as Bugs departed, she frowned off into the distance as she contemplated the information Bugs had given them. "I've got a hunch that his problem and our problem are the same," she stated, "Shall we go get picked up by the cops?"

"What!" Donald squawked.

Blinking, she smiled innocently- unaware of the sudden appearance of blooming flowers all around her- "Oh, did you not hear me? I said 'let's go talk to the cops'!"

After taking a few steps away, she turned and said, "Better idea, let's canvas the town."

"What would we paint on it, Sora?" Goofy asked.

Lifting a hand and clutched her head, a vein popping out in little red marks on her forehead as she squeezed her eyes tightly, "No! Not that kind of canvas! Ask around! Find out who's been scuffed and who's seen what! What old friends've you got hanging around here still?"

For a very long moment, neither Donald nor Goofy answered, but finally, Donald admitted cautiously, "Well... there'sh Daffy, I ushed to work with him. But I don't know if he shtill worksh there..."

"We can check," she replied immediately, "I mean, if he got another job, he'd have to have references, right?" she pointed out. "So lead the way, Donald!"

Taking a breath and puffing out his chest, Donald started off with his companions following behind him. "It'sh a bit of a walk from here," the duck admitted over his shoulder, "But the carsh around here aren't all that shafe, and the place I worked won't be open till late..." He eyed her with a concerned look and she frowned.

"Hey, I'm a big boy, I can stay up past eleven," she huffed. "Where'd you work, anyway? A bar?"

Donald abruptly tripped, landing on his face, feet in the air.

"Oh Lord! You _did_?" she exclaimed and burst out laughing, "Wow, that just seems so out of character for you, Donald! Don't worry, we can say I'm over twenty-one and I won't order anything hard. Promise." She held up her hand, making the boy scout's hand sign, "What's a little white lie when we're in the middle of an investigation? It's not like I'd be any better off waiting outside the door for you." Considering the bars she'd seen, she was likely in more danger waiting outside.

Picking himself off the ground with her help, Donald sighed, "I guesh you're right, Shora... The plache wash shafe enough when I wash there. Jusht watch out for the bounchers. They have no shenche of humor at all! It'sh shtill a long way to walk though... You shure you want to go?"

Figuring that she'd walked longer distances, she shrugged and gestured for Donald to lead on, then fell in behind him, aware that she was getting odd looks now and then. "Why's everyone looking at me like that?" she asked of Goofy, lowering her voice.

"Well, Sora," Goofy admitted, "You're kinda drawn in a different style than everyone else here, that's all. Don't think anything of it."

Looking down at herself, she frowned, only finding that she looked about the same as usual. Wanting to run, but not knowing their destination, she confined herself to Donald's pace with a stifled sigh. Instead, she turned her attention outwards, eyeing the other Toons. Many of them were animals, a few were humanoid, but completely outlandish, so she supposed that maybe the way she looked _was_ different than what they were all used to seeing. Smoothing a hand down her side, she encountered her side-pack and tapped it with her fingers, "Um... you know..." she started awkwardly, "If it's going to be that long a walk, maybe we should get dinner somewhere? What with the money we're saving by not taking a cab and all?"

"Gawrsh, Sora, are you hungry?" Goofy asked, then smiled, "Sure we can get something to eat."

Donald immediately seconded the idea with a, "Yeah! What do you want?"

Flushing, she had to admit, "I don't have any money to help pay..."

Shaking his head, Goofy replied with a pat to her shoulder, "We've got plenty, Sora. Don't worry about it."

Food- now... what _did_ she want? It was past lunch time for sure, but she was used to skipping meals and eating light. However, since it was their treat, she pondered. "Let's keep going and if I see anything that looks good along the way, I'll say something?"

"Hyuck, sounds like a plan, Sora!"

* * *

It was night time by the time they got into what Donald called the human town, Los Angeles, and still they had a while to walk. Their current location was a street with only a few lamps set at regular intervals but most were out. That left incredibly dark spots along the wide sidewalk that was also spaced regularly with even darker alleyways. There were no cars on the road and a distinct lack of the usual nightlife of a big city, no pedestrians except themselves and a few other scattered individuals that she was trying not to look at directly. Her Thug-sensors were tingling. Currently, they were walking past a large trolley garage called the Red Car. A new sign beside that said it was owned by the Cloverleaf Industries, whatever that was.

"Seen anything yet, Sora?" Goofy asked.

"Hmmm," she murmured, "Not really, but I'm about to the point that I'll eat anything." But not dead cat. It had almost come to that a few days ago- before she'd met Goofy and Donald. She'd decided that she just couldn't and had made big pouty eyes at a stranger who'd treated her to a hamburger and fries. She'd left immediately afterwards to avoid being taken to the cops. There'd been Missing Child reports on the TV by then and her Negative Voice had said something rather sarcastic about it.

Spotting a cheap diner on the other side of the road, she tugged Goofy's sleeve and said, "How about there? Quick and cheap. Probably okay to eat so long as you don't ask the ingredients." Actually, the place looked like it probably served alcohol too, but it was the food _she_ was interested in. There was a man standing outside the door, smoking.

Donald turned to look, then shook his head, "You don't want to eat _there_, Shora."

Curling her finger in, she blinked and dropped her arm, "That bad, huh? Okay..." So they started off again, padding on down the sidewalk at a steady pace. The stars were not visible tonight. The other people still out on the street were mostly huddled in corners, staring out at the world with glinting eyes. They were humans, and rather odd looking to her eyes, but she recognized the stereotypes quite easily: dark alley entrance, a group of five or six with sharp eyes. Grabbing Goofy's sleeve, she yanked him away from one such group that was lurking next to a broken streetlamp and hissed, "Don't look at them."

Unfortunately, trouble came looking for _them_ as a group of darkly dressed individuals stepped out of the shadows of an alley ahead of them. Taking a risk, she peeked back over her shoulder and grunted, "Great. Thugs, just what we needed."

"Gee, Sora, ya sound kinda happy," Goofy observed.

Putting on her most innocent expression, she smiled and said, "Me? Nah! Let's see if we can't talk our way out of this first, though."

Donald had meanwhile come to a stop, and of course his companions had to as well. She turned partially to look at the group walking up behind them, leaving Donald and Goofy to watch the group ahead. They were only a few hundred feet from the diner and there was nowhere to really go.

"Well, what do we have here?" a smooth male voice from ahead of them murmured, "It looks like a bunch of Toons out for a night on the town."

"Maybe," she agreed and flashed a smile at him, "But I don't think it's your business."

"When you come into our place, messing up our town, it is our business. Murderers," said the smooth voice, now irritated. She identified the speaker as a young man in a leather jacket. He was a good-enough looking guy, but not quite the angel-face Gary had been. She could handle him.

Smiling with little fangs, she replied, "Well, if we're murderers, why are you in our way?"

This caught both Donald and Goofy and the thugs off-guard. Spreading her hands, she smiled, "Or maybe we're just as irritated that someone's been blaming it on us and are tired of your lot coming into our town to play Detective?"

"You think you bozos can do something about it?" demanded the gang leader, then snorted and started cackling.

She smiled and folded her arms, waiting for their laughter to subside, "Looks can be deceiving," she pointed out, "How about you tell us the local gossip?" She put on her big pleading eyes to convince him that she was harmless, though she couldn't help the wicked twist to her lips. Her eyes burned.

The gang leader choked. "Just how mad _are_ you about this whole mess?" the leader asked, apparently seeing something in her eyes that rocked him back on his heels.

"Pretty steamed," she stated, deadpan and began to repeat what little information she'd gotten on ToonTown from Donald and Goofy, "The majority of the Toons are only interested in doing their own thing but don't cause any real harm... However my personal opinion is that there's a bad apple in every batch." Lowering her eyes briefly, she turned towards him fully and stated, "So help us figure out who the culprit is, if not directly, then at least let us get on with our business." Well, that was more the condensed version of what Donald and Goofy had told her. The longer version explained that in this world, Toons and Humans lived side by side, the Toons usually working in films and other places where humans needed to laugh. Like bars. Having good comedic shows kept the amount of bar-fights down, so Donald had said. Most of anything the average Toon did was done for laughs. She supposed that if she were a Toon, she wouldn't be a very funny one.

The gang leader stepped back briefly and whispered to his friends, "Not a very funny Toon. He seems rather serious."

The number two thug whispered back, "Not drawn like the usual set at all, look at his lines and costume and did you see how he made those flowers bloom around him like that? That was so weird!"

The third put in amidst the other whispers, "Is that Goofy with them? He looks different..."

"They don't look anything like those other Toons that've been attacking people," the gang leader concluded, "Maybe they know what's going on?"

Taking their moment of distraction to grab Donald and whisper a question, she asked the duck, "We got enough money to feed these guys too? It'd go over well..."

Donald nodded.

Finally, their meeting broke up and the gang leader said to her, "You're different. Not crazy like the others. You might actually get something done."

Flashing a grin, she replied, "Of course! I'm one of a kind. But hey, we were looking for a place to get some grub. How about we discuss business over dinner?"

The man nodded, "I'm Razor, this is Chuck, and Phred," he gestured first to the gang member on his right, then left.

"I'm Goofy!"

"I'm Donald!"

"Sora," she stated blandly, breaking the parallelism before she was sucked down into insanity.

Razor nodded to them, then turned, "This way," and he started back towards the diner the trio had passed up.

Smirking at Donald and Goofy, she said, "How awesome was _that_?" No one had _ever_ just believed her without question before! It was _so_ awesome! Turning and bounding after Razor, she fell into step beside him and cleared her throat, "You see a lot of things out here," she started, knowing for a fact that gangs were the unofficial watchmen of the streets- that wasn't to say they weren't corrupt as any other power in the world, but they saw a lot. "Have you seen anyone wearing long black coats with hoods sneaking around?"

At first, Razor started to shake his head, then stopped, "Well, yeah, one. He looked like a Toon but... it was dark, and I followed him to an alley but when I got there, it was empty."

Folding her arms and putting her chin in her hand, she thought hard on that, then nodded, "Probably teleported," she muttered to herself, "Just a little advice- stay away from the guys in the black hoods. They're not from this world and they're bad business. I'm actually here to chase them off."

Looking down, Razor snorted, "You?"

"Looks can be deceiving," she replied haughtily, irritated that he would continue to think her incapable in any sort of physical confrontation.

Eyeing her, Razor huffed, "I'll have to verify that then."

Truly irritated now, she twitched an eyebrow as she sized him up and replied, "If that's what it takes to make you respect me, then prepare to eat concrete. But don't go whining when I beat the carp out of you!"

Abruptly, the gang leader burst out laughing, "Finally! A joke! I thought there was something wrong with you!"

Losing her temper completely, a vein popping on her forehead, she hopped in front of him and shouted, "Idiot!" Taking a breath, she reigned herself in before she jumped him. She straightened and said, "Fine. Let's settle this before dinner. Just you and me. No weapons and no outside help. Street rules."

Razor stared down at her for a long moment, then cracked his knuckles with a grin, "Should be interesting," he started, then broke off as he looked off down the street, past her with a gasp.

Spinning around, she looked as well, "Heartless!" she announced, knowing for sure what the strange things were, if not by form, than by the fact that they had dropped out of those strange black teleportation bubbles. These ones had little metal helmets on and wore blue clothes.

"Sorry Razor, you'll just have to wait. Duty calls!" Dashing off, she called her Keyblade in mid-stride and hit the Heartless hard with a jab at the closest one. Goofy and Donald were immediately behind her, Donald throwing spells wildly. One bolt of lightning nearly hit her, but the effect was quite stunning- literally, the electricity warped around her, catching the Heartless that had stepped in too close. They stood still for a moment, shocked, and she followed Donald's blast with a swing of her blade, dissipating her enemies into black smoke.

Dodging aside from an attack from behind, she spun and landed a hard kick to the Heartless's face, knocking it backwards into its fellows. Bringing her blade back in line, she fell upon all three of them with a vengeance, knocking them backwards further, and as they fell, they turned to smoke.

Again, Donald shouted, "Thunder!" and a crack went off behind her- bouncing off some strange field and reflected again. Spinning around, she attacked the stunned Heartless that had been sneaking up behind her.

One bold and sneaky Heartless shoved another into her blade and snuck past her guard to get a solid blow that knocked her backwards. Rolling to her feet again, she came right back in, impaling the creature and the one behind it. Both of which turned to smoke on her blade. Looking around for something more to kill, she straightened and flipped her blade casually like an 'End Battle' pose from a game and smirked, releasing her blade back to wherever it had come from.

"Shora!" Donald called and she turned, catching the healing potion. It exploded on contact with a puff of green light, mending her wounds.

"Those were a little tougher than before, weren't they?" she asked.

Donald nodded, "They shure were!"

"Gawrsh, they seemed to be getting smarter too," Goofy put in.

She frowned, "Yeah, you see that one that shoved another one at me? Mean suckers," she shook her head and shrugged, turning back towards Razor and his batch, "Still want a piece of me?"

The man and his gang members all shook their heads. "No sir!"

Smirking, she dusted her hands and stated, "Good, because I don't feel like playing with you. We've got more important things to do, after all."

Thankfully, they were all agreed on this and she jogged over to the door, flashing a smile at the smoker there before turning to wait for the others, expending energy by bouncing. "Come _on_, slow pokes, I'm _starving_!"

* * *

_AN: If any paragraphs or sentences look odd, please tell me and they will be fixed ASAP._

_Next Chapter: The Hunter Confused. Sora is on Donald, Goofy, and Our Hero's trail, but finds some disturbing things along the way. What in the world does 'E equals 3' stand for anyway?_


	7. The Hunter Confused

_Chapter 7_

_(The Hunter Confused)_

It hadn't been that long of a train ride, thankfully, but for some reason, Sora felt queasy as he stepped off the train and looked around the grassy yard in front of Yen Sid's tower. There was nothing out of place there. At least, nothing on the surface, but for some reason, it seemed a little too quiet. Shaking his head, Sora started forward, heading towards the front steps.

Though he was on edge, he was still surprised when the attack came. Bubbles of darkness erupted all around him as he placed his foot on the first step. Drawing his Keyblade, Sora leapt forward, launching himself expertly at the Heartless in front of him.

If there were Heartless here, he reasoned, he'd better get up to Yen Sid's and find out what was going on. There was no reason to play with the Heartless here.

Rushing past the group, Sora burst through the door and headed up the steps, slashing at the Heartless that popped in ahead of him. Behind, a swarm of flying Heartless flew up to meet him and Sora was forced to cast a few spells on them to cut down the numbers.

Coming to the top of the tower after a mad dash through the gauntlet, Sora burst into Yen Sid's office, slamming the door behind him before the Heartless could get through, calling, "Master Yen Sid?" Outside, the heartless were banging against the door.

Finally getting the door locked and barred, Sora turned- only to gasp and step back against the shuddering door. Blood was splattered across the table and floor, a large amount of blood, but there was no body. A small piece of stained paper lay on the floor at the edge of the puddle and Sora stepped forward, picking it up. Cracking wood behind him brought Sora around and he stuffed the paper into one of his side-bags as he stepped back into a fighting stance as the door burst inwards, narrowly missing him. Leaping into action, he swung his Keyblade in a controlled slash that destroyed two Heartless. Immediately, he followed that by a jab and another slap which caught several more. Around him, the room was filling with Heartless, making it impossible for him to miss hitting _something_ with his attacks, but also impossible for him to escape, or to escape harm.

He fought towards the window, trying to put a wall to his back to keep from being too vulnerable. Unfortunately, once he got there, he was attacked in a concentrated wave, and shoved backwards.

Tripping, Sora began to topple out the window, watching as Heartless grabbed after him. Turning to look downwards, Sora gasped for air and shouted, "Teleport me now!"

After a flash of light and sudden stop that knocked his breath out, Sora lay curled on the teleport pad of his ship, gasping. That had been close.

_'This isn't going to work, Sora. You need backup,'_ Roxas insisted. _'Let me help.'_

Sora pressed his lips together, thinking of the blood-stained floor. He could think of nothing to retort with right away, but finally pointed out, "I could have defeated the Heartless fine on my own," he told his Nobody.

_'Sure,'_ Roxas was quick to point out. _'Next time you might not be so lucky.'_

"Not yet, Roxas," Sora stated firmly and climbed to his feet, "We don't even know if it's necessary to split up yet. Maybe Queen Minnie will know what's going on?" Roxas had no answer to that, and so subsided into silence, leaving Sora to contemplate his ill luck as he headed for the pilot seat. He had to admit that fighting alone was getting more than a little dangerous. He needed _someone_ at his side.

_'What about that paper?'_ Roxas reminded.

Blinking, Sora reached down and pulled out the crumpled and bloody paper. "E equals three," Sora read out loud. "Now that's cryptic. Jiminy, put that in your journal, please?"

"Right away," the cricket replied, hopping out of Sora's hood to take the paper Sora handed to him. "This doesn't look reassuring at all," Jiminy pointed out. "I think you need someone to watch your back, Sora. You were lucky you had the Gummi Ship set to teleport you from that tower already. What happens if you fall from somewhere that doesn't have a preset location?"

Wincing, Sora sighed, "Okay, alright. We'll go to the Castle to see if Minnie can lend me anyone..."

Taking hold of the controls, Sora headed onwards towards the general direction that Disney Castle should have been in. "Huh," he grunted, looking at his readouts, and took the opened path.

On the other side, of the warp, Sora slowed their ship and came to a stop over Disney Castle, "I hope everything is alright here," Sora commented while Jiminy continued to make notes in his journal. Parking his ship in orbit, Sora got to his feet and headed towards the teleport pad, stepping onto it, and setting the destination to the King's Library.

Opening his eyes, Sora blinked as Pluto jumped up onto him, front paws on the boy's shoulders as the dog snuffled his face. He couldn't lick very well with a book in his mouth, after all.

"Hey there Pluto, what's that?" Sora laughed, gently pushing the dog down and kneeling to take the book. Pluto, once relieved of his burden, barked excitedly, his tail wagging as Sora examined the book- it was slightly less than an inch thick with a battered green cover. Opening it, Sora frowned as he flipped through the pages. The text was hand written on slightly yellow paper with tiny blue lines, however, it was like trying to read text from a dream, the numbers and letters were there, but didn't form anything recognizable as words. Giving up deciphering it on his own, Sora called, "Hey, Jiminy?" It wasn't a second before the cricket hopped out onto Sora's shoulder. "Can you read this?" the boy held up the book briefly, then thought better and sat cross-legged on the floor where he was.

Setting the book on the floor for the cricket, Sora watched as Jiminy hopped down and stood on the page Sora had stopped on after randomly flipping through the book. "I'm afraid not- but it looks like a code," the certified Conscience said as he gazed at the page, "I think I could figure it out eventually, though. What is this book?" Jiminy asked as he hopped onto Sora's knee and the boy reached past him to flip the page. There was a picture taped to this page, a photograph of a small black and white kitten. Turning to the next page, there was a picture of the same kitten, smashed and barely recognizable. "Oh my!" Jiminy gasped.

Sora frowned, shaking his head, "This page..." he touched the wrinkled and slightly discolored page, "I think it's a diary- look how shaky the handwriting is here, and I think this is tear stains." The next page revealed nothing more than a solid block of penned in text made of numbers and letters mixed at what appeared to be random. The handwriting had gotten pinched and tiny, conserving space...

_'Or incredibly controlled fury,'_ Roxas put in.

"Sora? What're you doing back so soon?"

Lifting his eyes, the boy blinked at Minnie as she entered the library.

"So soon?" he asked, then sighed, "You mean Aros has been here _too_?"

Minnie's hands flew to her mouth as she gasped, "Oh no! Something _else_ has gone wrong?" What a reassuring statement...

Sora offered one hand down to Jiminy as his other picked up the book, "You could say that," he answered and stood once Jiminy had been transferred to his shoulder. "I've apparently got a double that's been picked up by Goofy and Donald and convinced them he's me. He... didn't do anything strange while he was here, did he?"

Though she started to shake her head, Minnie's eyes drifted towards the bookshelf and she stopped, "Oh- Oh no!" This time, she covered her eyes, "I can't believe I just _gave_ that to him!"

Truly concerned now, Sora stepped forward and knelt in front of the queen, reaching out to touch her shoulder, "What's wrong?"

Dropping her hands, Minnie answered, looking anguished, "I thought it was you, Sora, so I told him what had happened when Mickey had been kidnapped. He wanted to know what book Mickey had been looking at when he'd been kidnapped, and I only knew that it had a green cover. He picked a book off the shelf and asked me if that was the book Mickey had been looking at, then looked through it and said it might be the plans to some weapon, and I gave him the book!"

Sora sighed, sagging down on both his knees in front of her, "That... doesn't sound to comforting," he admitted.

"What book is that?" Minnie asked, as if something had just occurred to her.

"This? Pluto gave it to me-" Sora blinked and looked around, "Huh. He's gone..." Odd how that dog could move through time and reality at a whim...

_'Perhaps HE's really the one running the universe?'_ Roxas suggested heretically.

Clearing his throat, Sora endeavored to ignore Roxas's sarcastic statements and asked, "Why do you ask?"

"Because- now that I recall... there were _two_ green books. One on Mickey's desk and the other- he was looking at. He seemed very distracted by it and kept writing notes," Minnie admitted, then looked down, "I- admit I was angry that he wasn't paying attention to what I had to say... so I wasn't really looking at what he was doing. But I think the one that was closed on his desk was the one the Fake Sora took with him. What was his name?"

Thinking on that, Sora shook his head, "I'm just calling him Aros for now- my name backwards. I don't know what his name is, honestly. But Aros isn't the only one I'm looking for..."

"Kairi and Riku have been kidnapped too," Minnie supplied.

"Yeah, I need to find them, and Mickey- and there's another girl I'm looking for," Sora admitted, "I just felt her for the first time yesterday," he placed a hand on his heart, "But it feels like she's always been a part of me- just too far away to sense. I have to find her before something happens to her. I want to know who she is, but I don't know where she's been or where she's going, so all I can do is follow Aros's trail."

Spreading her hands, Minnie could only shake her head, "The only ones who have been here were Donald, Goofy, and Aros. If you tell me her name and what she looks like, I'll keep her here if she shows up?"

Unable to answer that, Sora shook his head and said, "I wish I could tell you, but all I know is what's in my heart. It's like playing a game of Hot-Cold. I'm fairly sure I'm close to her, but she's getting farther away by the second. And with Aros running around, possibly working for Maleficent and Organization Thirteen, armed with a book on how to make weapons... I think Roxas is right, I'm going to have to get more allies." If only he had Donald and Goofy! "So how convincing was Aros?" Sora asked.

Minnie shook her head, "He looked just about the same as you did the last time I saw you, a year ago. I'd forgotten that you're a growing boy and that you would have changed between then and now. He's shorter than you are now- a bit underfed looking though, and had a slightly higher pitched voice. But otherwise, he acted just like you."

"Not skittish or anything?" Sora asked.

Again, Minnie shook her head, "Well, Figaro didn't like him. But then, Figaro doesn't like strangers in general."

Blinking, Sora cocked his head, "Figaro is who now?"

"My new kitten," Minnie replied, then turned, looking around and pointed, "There, sleeping on Mickey's desk." Amidst a pile of papers that had probably been neatly stacked before the kitten decided to bed down on them.

Standing, Sora paced over to the limp kitten and blinked at it, opening the book he still held and found the photo. "Huh," Sora grunted.

"Looks nearly the same," Jiminy admitted.

"What?" Minnie asked.

Turning towards the queen, Sora turned the book towards her, "I think this is a diary of some sort," he admitted, "But all the writing looks like gibberish, so it'll take a while to translate it."

Reaching out to take the book, she blinked as Sora pulled it away. "You do _not_ want to see the next page, Queen Minnie" Sora warned, then handed the book to her so she could take a closer look at the picture of the living kitten.

"Yes, they do look similar," Minnie admitted. "But what's on the next page?" she thankfully did not turn to it and instead handed the book back to Sora.

Pressing his lips together briefly, he exchanged a look with Jiminy before just telling Minnie, "You don't want to know." Her eyes traveled towards the cricket, who also gave a shake of his head. "Sorry, Queen Minnie, it's just something you would regret seeing." Taking a breath, he asked, "Are there any other fighters around that could give me a hand?"

Minnie shook her head, "I'm very sorry, Sora. I need the rest of the Knights to keep the Heartless out of the castle and Donald only had one apprentice. I'm afraid he's not very good, more of a danger to you than to the Heartless right now." Minnie drew a sharp breath and lifted a hand, "Wait. I know one person. He's new, but very good. He said he was a Guardian before, so he might be just what you need. Wait here a moment."

Turning, Minnie bustled from the room.

_'Alright Roxas,'_ Sora addressed his Nobody mentally, _'What's your plan?'_

For a moment, Roxas didn't answer. Before Sora could prod him, however, he said, _'I still say we split up. You take the guy Queen Minnie is lending you, I'll be fine by myself.'_

_'NOW who's being cocky?'_ Sora demanded.

Thankfully for Roxas, they were interrupted by Minnie's return.

Sora looked over and up- and up at the creature that followed the queen. Now, Minnie came up to Sora's knee, making her appear short in the first place, but the fact that she only stood half as tall as the creature's shin just made her seem like a bug dashing before the footsteps of a mighty spear-wielding giant.

The creature was huge with blue fur, a muzzle, and a broken horn in the center of his forehead and it was all Sora could do not to stare at first. That was until he realized who this beast reminded him of. Relieved upon finding a way to deal with the situation, Sora smiled and the stranger flicked his tail.

Coming to a stop in front of him, Minnie looked up at Sora and said, "This is Khimari- he lost his home world back when the Heartless first started attacking. He's agreed to help if you'll help him find his world. Will you Sora?"

Grinning, Sora nodded, "Of course." Holding out his hand, he greeted, "I'm Sora. It's nice to meet you."

For a long moment, Khimari didn't answer, just stared down at the boy. Finally, he reached out with a rumble and carefully took Sora's hand in his talon-capped paw. Khimari didn't squeeze, just touched barely, then let go and rumbled, "Khimari thank you."

Surprised at the depth of the beast's voice, Sora smiled again, "No problem. Thank you for volunteering to help!" Khimari merely rumbled again, whether that was agreement, disagreement, or just 'no comment', Sora didn't know and by default, took it to mean 'no comment'.

"Wait!" a voice called from down the hall, "Wait for me!" Minnie winced as the library door burst open and a human man of indeterminate age staggered in panting. Gasping for one last breath of air, he straightened, adjusted his robes and stated, "I'll come with you!"

Sora blinked a few times, but Minnie beat him to it. "Apprentice, your skills..."

"Hey!" the man objected, "I'm still pretty good with a gun," Turning large watering green eyes on Sora in a face that was oddly familiar, he begged, "Please take me with you? I've been stuck here since- since forever!"

"Ah..." Sora started, then looked towards Minnie who just shrugged, as if to say 'whatever you want to do Sora'. Swallowing, Sora offered out his hand, "I guess- welcome aboard. I'm Sora," he smiled.

Breaking into a grin, the apprentice mage took Sora's hand in a firm grip, "The name's Laguna!"

* * *

_AN:__ If any paragraphs or sentences look odd, please tell me and they will be fixed ASAP._

_Next Chapter: Of Mice and Munny. Can Donald's purse take Our Hero's appetite, or will she break the bank? Or will she break their newest ally's neck first?_


	8. Of Mice and Munny

_Chapter 8_

_(Of Mice and Munny)_

Stepping into the Diner, she paused, looking up the stairs that led to the actual bar, then started up them, feeling incredibly out of place amidst the strange contours of the room. Donald and Goofy looked even weirder, and she was compelled to find something reflective to check her own appearance in. As luck would have it, there was a mirror behind the bar across the room and she got a full view of herself against the backdrop of the diner once she stepped fully into the room.

She'd changed slightly- turning from something three dimensional to two-dimensional with incredibly large bottomless blue eyes. Her hair wasn't messy anymore, but seemed to have a spiky style to it, as if it was meant to be that way. Weighted lines delineated between her chin and neck and the shadows that fell across her were simplified. "I'm an Anime character!" she whispered, eyes widening at the realization. Specifically, she looked incredibly Bishonen. It was _so_ cool!

A voice from up front caught her attention and she looked away from her reflection to Razor, who was talking with the woman behind the bar. "You know we don't serve Toons here!"

"But- they can get rid of those weird Toons that've been stealing stuff lately!" Razor argued. "We saw them!" Abruptly, Razor turned towards her and said, "Show Deloris that sword of yours!"

Shrugging, she lifted out her hand, "It's called a Keyblade," she supplied as light sparkled in her palm and solidified into her weapon. "Look, miss," she continued and stepped forward, heading past the tables to approach the bar and turned on her Anime charm to its fullest, "We're not here to cause trouble for you. We're here to get rid of some people who shouldn't be here- people who don't belong here and are only here to mess up your lives. Besides, we can pay." She looked over at Donald, who nodded. Releasing her Keyblade, she leaned on the bar and lifted her eyes, to gaze up from below at the dark haired human woman, "So, just this once?" she asked softly.

Deloris shifted, either unnerved by the Charm, or reluctant to admit she'd been affected by it, and finally, with her lips pressed in a firm line, she grabbed several menus and stomped off to a table, slamming them down. "Just don't make a mess!"

Flashing a grin, the girl gave a salute, "Yes Ma'am! Best behavior- Boy Scout's promise." Never mind the fact that she was _not_ a boy and had never even been a Brownie.

Instead, Deloris rolled her eyes and the girl turned, sedately walking over to the table and took the Sniper Chair- which was the chair in the corner that afforded her a view of the rest of the room. Everyone else arranged themselves as they liked. Donald and Goofy took seats on her left and right and Razor and his gang sat across from her. Picking up a menu, she began to peruse it, then looked up, blinking, "Huh," she muttered.

"What?" Razor asked.

"Ever felt like you were in a scene from the Godfather?" she replied, then grinned and did her best imitation of the voice with a little flourish of her hand, "Now Antonio..."

Donald and Goofy didn't seem to get it, but the humans at the table chuckled. Picking her menu back up, she looked it over then shifted and whispered to Donald, "Hey, I'm _really_ hungry, how much money do we _have_ anyway?"

The duck replied, "Get however much you want, Shora."

She nodded and sat back, looking over the menu. "Ou, barbeque..." she muttered to herself.

"Ready to order yet?" Deloris asked, looking irritated.

Lifting her eyes, the girl smiled and pointed, "I'd like... that, and that and that. Oh and that looks good too..."

* * *

Heaving a contented sigh, she sank down in her chair and quietly burped behind her hand. Though she'd fully intended to conduct some business over dinner, she'd found that once food had arrived, she'd been completely unable to focus on two things at once. It was talk or food, and food won the toss. 

Opening her eyes, she perked again and looked past the mountain of plates on the table, flashing a brief smile at Razor and his gang- who were gaping at her. "Hey!" she huffed, "What's that look for?"

"I can't believe... you actually _ate_ all that!" Razor managed to stammer.

Blinking, she actually looked at the table, then sheepishly shrugged, "It's been a tough week," she offered. Abruptly, she turned and hissed at Donald as the thought occurred to her, "I didn't break our budget, did I!"

Donald gazed down into his munny purse and frowned at her.

Eyes watering, she clenched her hands beneath her chin and whimpered, "I'm sorry! But you said I could get what I wanted!"

"Ya sure did, Donald," Goofy agreed, lifting a finger to point out.

Fussing, Donald huffed, "Oh, Phooie!"

"Don't have the money?" Deloris asked, frowning at them.

Turning a smile on her, the girl reached out and plucked the ticket from her and began translating the bill into dishwashing duty, "Ouch. That'll take all week," she mused, then hopped up, pulling out an apron and handkerchief to tie over her hair, "But we can work it off, I'm sure!"

Reaching out, Donald snatched the ticket from her hand and huffed, "We can pay," and proceeded to shell out the cash.

The girl blinked, turning wide blank eyes towards Razor and his batch before returning to her normal drawing style and removed the apron and handkerchief. "Heheh... Ahem, anyway. So tell us what all you've seen- other than the one guy in black and the Heartless. You said something about them stealing things?"

"Yeah," Razor said, taking the sudden costume and drawing style changes all in stride. Sitting back in his chair, he folded his arms, "They show up and steal things. Weird stuff, like paint thinner, turpentine, metal tubing, sheet metal, gears. You name it!"

"Dishes?" she offered, taking him up on his offer. Razor stared at her. Not amused. Shrugging, she gestured, "Alright... Have you seen where this stuff's being taken?"

Razor shook his head, "They hop into those black bubbles and they're gone. The only other weird thing around here was the Toon in the black cloak that I told you about."

Sighing, she nodded, but stopped when the front door banged open and a man wearing a wide-brimmed hat and long trench coat came jogging up the stairs. "Deloris!" he called. His coat was oddly bulged in the front and white rabbit ears kept creeping up from the collar. "Deloris!"

The woman turned from helping Donald and Goofy count out the money and snapped, "What, Eddie?"

Grinding his teeth, Eddie jerked his head in a 'follow me' manner and headed towards the back room of the bar. Deloris frowned and looked towards Donald and Goofy and stated, "I'll be right back."

Looking over, the girl frowned and shook her head, "Look, there's an easier way to do that," she stated. "If you know exactly how much you've got."

"Eight-hundred and seventy-two," Goofy supplied.

"And the bill is how much?" she asked, snatching the ticket back from Donald. Reaching over, she looked over the coins scattered on the table. "Eight hundred and seventy-two minus the bill, leaves one-fifteen, so count out one-fifteen and the rest goes to Deloris, whenever she gets back. Ah, forgot to add tip! What's fifteen percent on top? Aw heck," she dropped the coins she'd subtracted back onto the pile, "Just give it all to her. If it's over, it pays for the trouble we put her through."

"You mean _you_ put her through!" Donald fussed, hopping up and down on his chair.

Smiling in spite of Donald's fury, she swept the coins back into the bag and stated, "I didn't know you were such a miser, Donald. Really, how could you be so cruel to a poor waitress? You know they don't get paid enough as it is; hardly enough to support one person, let alone children. Who knows what kind of hardships her family is going through right now? Just imagine them- six starving little darlings sitting at home, waiting desperately for their mother to return from her fourth job of the day... It's so sad!" She put the back of her hand to her forehead and a cool wind blew through the room, ruffling her hair.

Down the table, Razor sniffled, "That _is_ sad!" Donald and Goofy clutched each other, eyes watering as if they were about to cry.

Grinning, she looked at them all in amazement, "What? You guys actually _believed_ all that?" The communal faceplant rattled the dishes on the table. "Whoo! Wow, I crack myself up," she sniggered as Deloris came stomping back out, looking peeved and muttering to herself. Lifting up the bag of money, the girl handed it over, "Eight-hundred and seventy-two should cover both the bill, tip, and trouble. Thanks for dinner, Ma'am!"

Taking the bag, Deloris's expression softened slightly, but not by much. Instead, she pocketed the cash and began picking up dishes and headed back across the room with them. As she came around the end of the bar, Eddie stepped out, pulling his coat back on and remarked, "I thought you didn't serve Toons in here."

"They paid and made less of a mess than some of my regular customers," Deloris remarked back.

Glancing over towards the three Toons on the other side of the room, Eddie shook his head and headed out the door. "Gee," the girl commented sarcastically, "He seems like a real nice fellow. I'd hate to see him mad," with that, she put an elbow on the table and gazed towards the door absently.

"Wash that Eddie Valiant?" Donald whispered across the table to Goofy.

"I think so," the dog-man replied, "Gee, he looked kinda down. I wonder where Teddy is?"

Shaking her head, she sat up and returned her attention to Razor and his gang, ignoring Donald and Goofy's attempt at a private conversation over her head. "Well, thanks for the info, guys, we'll look into things."

Nodding, Razor and his gang stood, heading for the door. Donald and Goofy started out as well, then stopped when they realized that she wasn't following. Instead, she sat at the table still, legs crossed and chin propped on her hand. "Whash wrong, Shora?" Donald asked, apparently no longer angry about the money.

Coming back to herself, she looked towards them, "Just thinking- and taking a moment to rest. We've been walking all day, and that bar will be open well into the night. Right?"

Donald nodded and both he and Goofy returned to the table to have a seat.

Staring off into space, she flexed her toes in her shoes and huffed a sigh, "Heartless... stealing random things. It doesn't make sense. I wonder what else has gone wrong in this world?"

"My life!"

Sitting up, she, Donald, and Goofy turned to look at the white rabbit in red overalls that sat at the end of the table. His eyes watered at them. "What do you mean?" the girl asked, wondering if she was about to play the school councilor.

The rabbit sniffled and wiped his nose on his ear as he said, "Y'see- my wife hasn't been around lately and then Maroon, my b-b-boss, hired Eddie Valiant to investigate and he got _p-p-pictures_ of my Jessica and Marvin Acme, and now Acme's _d-d-dead_ and _I'm_ b-b-blamed for it and Eddie won't help me!" he wailed and slammed his face on the table, making the dishes still stacked there bounce. Lifting his head, he slammed it down again.

"Marvin Acme's _dead_!" Donald and Goofy gasped.

Roger nodded, lifting his head to speak again. "Yeah! A _Toon_ dropped a safe on his head!"

"Oh no!" Goofy remarked, looking towards Donald, "What'll happen to Toontown?"

Lifting her hands, she slammed them on the table, "Now- can we rewind a second here. Who is Marvin Acme and what's the problem?"

Donald turned towards her and started explaining, "Marvin Acme ish an inventor and makesh gag giftsh and stuff. He ownsh Toontown!"

Reaching over, the girl picked up a stack of plates and set it on the table beside theirs to keep the dishes intact, their newest arrival was quite rambunctious, even when depressed and kept kicking the table. "Ah. I see," she said, even if she really couldn't care less about a cheating wife. However, she gestured towards the door, "That guy was Eddie Valiant?" she asked.

The rabbit nodded, "I went to him for help because he and his brother _always_ helped us Toons before! We almost got caught by the Weasels in his apartment and then he brought me here!"

"Well, that sounds like help if you ask me," she pointed out. "I mean, a guy wouldn't go out of his way to hide a suspected murderer unless he had a reason to." She eyed the rabbit. "Who are you anyway?"

Perking immediately, the rabbit stuck out a yellow-gloved hand, "The name's Roger! Roger Rabbit! Putter there, Pal!"

Blinking at his unnaturally elongated arm, she cautiously touched her hand to his and got her arm rapidly pumped several times before he released it. "I'm Sora, that's Donald, and Goofy," she pointed.

Roger shot out of his seat, latching onto the front of Goofy's shirt, "You're _Goofy_!" he gasped, "Wow! I've admired your work for _years_! Such form! Such _STYLE_! Such pain tolerance! Can I have your autograph?"

"Hyuck!" Goofy laughed, "Sure, Roger!" Pulling out a piece of paper, Goofy signed it and handed it over to the rabbit who bounced to the floor, twirled on his ears and bounced around the room, nearly knocking over the tables and stacks of dishes that Deloris hadn't finished picking up yet.

Irritated, the girl reached out and snagged Roger by his ears as he went overhead- the only thing she could catch, and threw him into a chair, "Settle down! Before the bar maid kicks us out."

Cowering, Roger nodded hard enough to rattle his teeth and replied, "Right-o! Settling down!" He hardly looked settled, but she took what she could get out of him.

"So, that's one identified body that was supposedly killed by a Toon," she commented, "And the one accused of the crime." Rubbing her chin, she gazed off towards the far wall. "It still doesn't make any sense." She sighed. "Even if it was the Heartless, why kill the guy who owns Toontown? All his stuff just goes to his heir, right?"

"Except Acme doesn't _have_ an heir," Deloris stated as she re-entered, picking up the next stack of dishes and frowned at Roger who was jittering in his seat.

"Ah," the girl replied, "Then it all goes to public auction, correct?" Deloris nodded at that and turned, heading off with the dishes.

"Acme had told us he was going to leave the town to us Toons," Roger wailed, "But his will's missin!"

Nodding slightly, the girl replied, "Ah. That makes sense. Someone wants to own Toontown, but why blame it on the Toons? Unless it's two different people working at cross purposes? I don't think we've got enough information, still."

"Gawrsh, Sora, this is pretty serious," Goofy commented, "Bugs didn't mention that it was Acme who'd died."

"It hadn't hit the news till noon," Deloris replied to what she'd overheard as she headed over to pick up the remaining dishes and carted them off.

Taking a deep breath, the girl let it out and chewed on her lip a little in thought. "Then the course is clear. We need to find who really killed Acme."

"You forgot about the Heartlessh," Donald pointed out.

Wincing, she shook her head, "Not quite. Like I said earlier. I think the Heartless are in on this too. I mean, when would there be a better opportunity to attack than when everything is in chaos? I know that if _I_ were an Evil Warlord trying to take over a world, I'd send my minions in to destroy all order, then come sweeping in with my Task Force of Doom to establish peace again, and then all the people are happy and grateful to me for fixing their world and I own it, without all that bloody mess of sieges and gorilla tactics."

Looking around at the wide-eyed shocked expressions her companions wore, she asked, "What? I never said I'd actually _do_ something like that!"

Roger shook his head, "Import Toons... I just can't figure 'em." A moment later, he turned back towards them and said, "But Eddie said that he thought my b-b-boss, R.K. Maroon was the one who got rid of Acme- because he wanted Toontown."

Shaking her head, the girl sighed, thumping her elbows on the table as Deloris returned and wiped at the table around them, "So how's the case coming?"

Snorting and sitting back, the girl replied, "We've got lots of foot prints, but they lead in circles! I think I need a map to figure out this one."

On cue, Roger offered one.

She stared at him, a large sweat-drop sliding down the side of her head. Reaching up, she grabbed her sweat-drop and slapped the rabbit with it, "Idiot! I didn't mean that literally!" Sighing, she shook her head and sat down again and picked up a napkin and started tearing it and folding the pieces into origami shapes. "Hey Donald, were we still going to go to that place you used to work?"

"The Ink and Paint Club?" Donald asked, then looked towards Goofy who shrugged. "I guessh itsh up to you, Shora."

Giving a shake of her head, she replied, "If we can find a place to crash around here, I think we should take this up tomorrow. It's been a long day."

Deloris sighed, "You may as well stay here then. I'm already housing that moron," she gestured towards Roger. "Just keep him quiet."

Perking, the girl smiled and replied, "Sure, you want any dishes washed too? Or sweeping or something? I'm pretty good at cleaning." Well, cleaning dog kennels, but that wasn't any different from cleaning a bar floor. In fact, the bar's floor was probably less disgusting than that kennel she'd had to scrub that they'd put the dog with the runs in.

Hesitating for a moment, Deloris eyed the three, "Just don't break anything."

Giving a salute, the girl answered, "Scout's promise, Ma'am! Thanks a bunch!"

Snorting derisively, Deloris headed back over to the bar, dropped the rag she'd been using on their table there, and reached behind the bar to pick up her purse. "I'm heading home then. Lock up. And keep Roger hidden."

Donald and Goofy joined her in the salute and chorus of, "Yes Ma'am!"

* * *

_AN:__ If any paragraphs or sentences look odd, please tell me and they will be fixed ASAP._

_Next Chapter: Angsty Bishonen. Will Roger's pestering be enough to wear down Our Hero's resistance to speaking about her past? Or will she continue to resist all temptation to open her heart?_


	9. Angsty Bishonen

_Chapter 9_

_(Angsty Bishonen)_

_'Hey... you still awake?'_ her Positive Voice whispered.

Squeezing her eyes closed, she curled up more tightly in the dark of the back room of the Diner. _'Odd, you should know if I am or not,'_ she replied.

_'I- it's so hard to talk to you sometimes,'_ he answered, _'I can't hear you all the time. I just wanted you to know that I'm about to do something that might cut off contact between us for a while. I just wanted you to know that I'm looking for you.'_

_'Looking for me? Aren't you in my head?'_ she asked, quite confused now.

Her Positive Voice replied, _'I'm not in your head. I'm in your heart, there's a difference. I'm coming for you.'_

_'That sounds rather creepy,'_ she told him.

_'Agh! No, I mean I'm looking for you because I want to be with you. I want to help you when you need help. Please tell me where you are?'_

She pondered on that for a long moment, unable to decide whether to tell him or not. Unfortunately, the choice was taken from her when she realized that the sense of his _being_ there had disappeared before she'd made her decision. Silently sighing, she sat up carefully and looked around the dark back room of the diner. _'I'm crazy,'_ she decided finally, lifting a hand to fondle her necklace, the strange crystal charm felt warm in her hand- warm and soothing. _'I'm so desperate for a Knight in Shining Armor that my subconscious has produced a voice to tell me things I want to hear.'_ Her eyes stung and she stood, carefully stepping over Donald and Goofy, and slipped out into the kitchen. Silently as she could, she closed the door behind her before heading over to turn the light on.

Hunting around, she located a bucket and soap and put the two and some water together, then began to clean the grimy kitchen.

"What're you doing, Sora?" Roger asked.

Blinking, she looked up to find him quietly closing the door to the back room after stepping out. "Couldn't sleep," she said, "Decided to be useful instead." Sighing, she slapped the rag down onto the floor and started scrubbing, her pendant had slipped free of the collar of her shirt, swinging wildly and throwing sparkles of light across her hands on the floor. "Look, if you're going to be in here, at least get off the floor?" she requested and Roger hopped up onto the counter, "And don't wake Donald and Goofy... they worry about me enough as is."

Swinging his big feet, Roger leaned forward slightly, "That's a pretty necklace," he commented, "Can I see it, p-p-please?"

Freezing, she lifted a soapy hand and stuffed it into her collar, "No."

"Oh." Roger fell silent for a moment, watching her work, then started again, "Where'd you get it then?"

Pausing and sitting back, she stared off into space, then shook her head, "I don't remember. I think I always had it."

"Oh." Again, Roger fell silent, then said, "Foreign Toons aren't anything like American Toons. I just can't figure you out. What's your line? What's your running gag?"

Lifting her eyes, she frowned at him, "I don't have a running gag. I'm the Moody Angsty Bishonen character type," or she guessed she was, "With a crappy past that I don't talk about because I'm too tough for pity."

Roger stared down at her, "Not even to friends?"

"Huh?" she asked, partway towards returning to her work.

Clarifying himself, Roger asked, "You don't talk about your past even to your friends?"

Scrubbing the floor and putting her back into it, she shook her head, "It'd make them worry. Too much. I can handle it. I'm not going to just fall apart or anything. So it doesn't matter what happened before. What I currently have is far better than my life before, so I'll just leave what's buried alone and move on." Lifting her eyes, she gazed at Roger and stated, "Maybe you should learn to Forget too? It's easier than being broken-hearted over someone." Looking down again, she scowled at the floor, "People, in the end, are self serving and will leave you. So there's no point in being permanently attached to anyone."

"B-b-but Sora!" Roger gasped, starting to get teary eyed, "That's a horrible thing to think!"

"Think? Ha. That's experience talking," she snorted, "Look, I'm just not in the mood for company, okay? If what I said bothers you, then just let me do what I have to do to put myself in order and forget I said anything. I'll be fine in the morning." Fishing an unfelt smile from her store room of such things, she turned it towards Roger, who didn't look convinced at all. In fact, he looked like he was about to start blubbering even worse. At least he hopped off the counter and padded across the kitchen to the back room again. Without looking at him she added, more genuinely, "We'll try to figure things out in the morning, maybe things will turn out alright for you?" looking up, she met Roger's eyes where he stood at the door still and finished, "I may have lost my Hope, but I'm still willing to help you realize yours, so smile and keep going. Sleep well, Roger."

"You too, Sora," the rabbit replied and stepped back into the back room, carefully closing the door behind him.

Sighing, she turned her attention back to the grimy floor and attacked the stickiness with her rag, determined to work out her depression on something that deserved annihilation. Roger couldn't help his obnoxiousness, it was part of his Character, so she forgave him that. Nor was Roger to blame for her current mood.

_'You're mad at yourself,'_ her Negative Voice observed, _'For something you have no control over.'_

_'It hurts. Being mad keeps me from realizing how much it hurts,'_ she replied.

Her Negative Voice didn't reply to that. In fact, she seemed to agree, and just fell silent, riding in the back of her host's mind, projecting a feeling that was almost like being hugged. Even though she was alone, she held back her tears and scrubbed the floor harder.

* * *

Sora heaved a sigh and fell back in his chair, stretching his fingers and staring at the far wall. 

_'Well, we gave it a try,'_ Roxas pointed out.

"I know," Sora admitted, then heaved himself to his feet, "Time to split then." It was a good thing he was- relatively- alone in the bridge of his Gummi Ship. Laguna and Khimari were in the lounge- Laguna talking and Khimari... not talking. What a pair of opposites they were. Shaking his head, Sora turned his attention back to the task at hand and closed his eyes, feeling as if half of him were stepping out of his own body.

In fact, that was exactly what was happening, and when he opened his eyes again, Roxas stood in front of him. The blonde shrugged his shoulders and settled his short jacket, then offered a slight smile, "Can't say that I don't like having my own feet from time to time," he admitted.

Giving a smile and scrubbing the back of his head, Sora replied, "Sorry?"

"You're not really," Roxas replied, "But I like you that way. We'll meet back at Disney Castle in two days, alright?"

Before agreeing to that, Sora asked, "Where're you heading?"

Roxas dodged meeting Sora's eyes by gazing off towards the far wall as he answered, "I was going to try to find the World that Never Was," he admitted, "Maybe come up with some answers as to how the Organization is back."

"You mean find Axel," Sora replied, "Don't bother lying to me."

Flushing, Roxas scrubbed the back of his head and laughed with a sheepish shrug, then flicked his gaze back to Sora's face, "Can't blame me for trying?"

"No," Sora admitted, "I liked him too- after he apologized about kidnapping Kairi. You just be careful over there, okay? I wouldn't want to have to go looking for you _too_ when they kidnap you."

"Kidnap?" Roxas demanded straightening and lifting his chin, "I'm better than that."

Offering his hand out, Sora grinned and agreed, "Right."

Roxas slapped his palm into his Other's and nodded firmly, "See you in two days."

Releasing each other, Roxas strode over to the teleport pad and hopped onto it, gazing at Sora briefly before closing his eyes, disappearing in a flash of light.

Falling back into his chair, Sora sighed, staring at the front screen. "Two days... I'd better get going, I guess." Thumping his heels on the floor, the young man pursed his lips then reached forward to hit the intercom button, "All hands to the bridge, we're taking off."

The door behind him opened, Laguna being the first to hop out and choose a seat. Khimari was slower in coming but not out of rudeness. He folded his arms and stood at the back of the room like the guard he was at heart, and Sora, after looking back at the big blue beast, sighed. Oh well, it wasn't like Khimari could fit in the remaining chair anyway.

Taking hold of the controls, Sora turned their ship and boosted off, heading towards a door at random. After all, how was he to know which door his Other had taken, let alone which door Aros had taken, or which door led to the Girl? Pulling his mind back to the task at hand, Sora shot through the door when it opened, intending to lock this path to the Light.

Sometimes, all you could do was pick a place to start and just get to work.

* * *

Roxas sighed as he stared out the front window of his newly acquired Gummi Ship- a ship which was on loan from the garage Chip and Dale kept at Disney Castle, which was where Sora's ship had come from, and likely Donald and Goofy's as well. Flexing his fingers, the Nobody with half a heart watched Sora take off in what was likely a random direction. Shaking his head, Roxas sighed, "He never thinks things through." 

Of course, considering where Roxas intended to go, he had to wonder at himself. "Sora's impulsiveness must have rubbed off," he decided and turned his ship away from the direction Sora had taken, intending to head back to Twilight Town where he might find a trace of the trail that would lead to the World that Never Was. However, upon looking at the opened path, Roxas groaned and dropped his head, "I should have realized!"

Lifting his head, he stared at the path, "Minnie said the paths were all closed. Finding Aros would be easy if we just found what paths were opened already!" Well, it was too late to tell Sora that. Well, Roxas knew what path Sora had taken at least, "Once I find Axel, he and I can go hunt down Aros together," he decided, a smile curling the corners of his lips at the thought. He missed hanging out with Axel. He missed it enough to suspend disbelief of the possibility that Axel might not even be alive to be found. Hope was all he had at this point, though, even if he couldn't find Axel, Roxas still intended to find out about the supposed Organization Thirteen. Now that he thought about it, Roxas realized that Hayner, Pence, Olette, and Minnie only had Aros's word on the Organization's reappearance. In fact, they only had Aros's word that Kairi, Riku, and Mickey were being held by the Organization and Maleficent. If Aros were working for Maleficent, then Aros would say anything to get the results he wanted.

"Well, I intend to find the truth of that," Roxas vowed and started his ship's engines into full power, shooting off towards the door that would lead him back to Twilight Town.

* * *

"Order number twenty-one'sh ready!" Donald called from the kitchen. 

"I got it!" Goofy shouted back over the din in the Diner and grabbed the plate that was handed out from the kitchen.

"I'll have a scotch on the rocks!" a man said from down the bar.

Without looking at him, the Anime girl manning the bar called back, "Coming right up, sir!" grabbing a glass and pair of ice cubes with one hand and the bottle of scotch with the other, poured the glass, then slid it down the bar with dead-on accuracy between Roger's dancing feet to the man who'd ordered it. "That'll be six-fifty."

"Put it on my tab!" Angelo called.

"In your dreams! Pay up!" the girl called back.

Customers crowded the bar as Roger danced up and down it, singing to a vinyl record, making rhymes that had the men at the bar cackling and ordering drinks at a steady rate.

It wasn't chaos. It was busy, and the girl smirked to herself, pleased at her work. For _once_ she wasn't screwing up something! Though it was a bit odd how she'd ended up in the situation she was currently in. She'd fallen asleep on the floor in the kitchen, having spent half the night scrubbing the floor till it was clean enough to eat off of. As the stroke of nine-thirty rolled around, she'd been nudged awake by a shoe, and upon scrubbing sleep from her eyes, looked up to find a large burly man standing over her.

_"What're you doing here?"_ he'd asked her.

_"Deloris let us stay the night in the back room,"_ she'd replied and bowed from her knees on the floor, _"I'm very sorry if that inconveniences you sir! We didn't have anywhere else to go."_

The man hadn't said anything to that, instead, he'd asked, _"Did you clean this floor?"_

_"Was I not supposed to? I'm sorry!"_ again, she'd bowed, and been poleaxed by the deep rumbling laugh the man belted out.

The offer for a temporary job had been given, and seeing as how she'd given the Diner all their money the night before, she agreed and said she could serve drinks as long as they were simple.

So there she was, and there Goofy was, serving tables, and there Donald was, helping in the kitchen. And there Roger was, with no useful skills other than making a fool of himself on the top of the bar while she rescued glasses from his trampling feet before he broke them.

That was when Deloris and Eddie burst into the bar. Jogging up the stairs, Eddie dashing over and stopped as Roger began his next set of rhymes, this time, making fun of Eddie.

"Roger not the-" the Anime girl started to say as Roger reached the end of his song and the phonograph started to skip, and at every skip, he picked up a dish and cracked it on his head. "the dishes..." the girl finished and sagged, going limp.

_'LEVEL FAILED,'_ she thought sourly, watching as Eddie grabbed Roger by the ears and hauled him into the back.

Deloris turned and hissed, "I told you to keep him quiet!"

Turning pale, the girl shrank back, eyes wide and before she could think of anything to say, the woman had dashed off to the back, following Eddie. Staring around the bar and suddenly feeling trapped by the line of men that were now between her and the only exits- the big window on the right wall and the front door- she shivered.

As if things weren't bad enough, the front door banged open hard enough to crack the wall. Silence fell as heavy footsteps thumped up the stairs, and she shrank back against the far wall of the bar, pressed against the shelves of bottles and the mirror. The man that entered was tall and dressed in black with a pasty face and small beady eyes that flicked around the room with a stabbing intensity. Goofy, shielding himself with his tray, backed up out of the man's way as he entered, five weasels scuttling in behind, waving human-made guns around at the diners. "I'm looking... for a rabbit," the man in black announced, turning his eyes towards the Anime girl and leaned towards her across the bar, "Have you seen one?"

Shoving a smile onto her lips under her deer-in-the-headlights wide eyes, "Seen a rabbit? No... once, twice... Never for dinner, just a movie and walk in the park! Was she your daughter?" she squeaked.

There were some sniggers around the bar at that, but the weasel in the pink coat pointed a gun at her, and she held her hands up in full sight, large blue eyes wider than ever. "Ah wiseguy, eh?" the weasel sneered as Deloris stepped out from the back room and sidled behind the bar.

"You leave my employees alone, Doom," the woman stated, sliding her hand under the bar to touch a button that the girl hadn't noticed before.

The tall man sneered, "_Judge_...Doom," he corrected, "And I would be all too happy to leave them alone... If they ceased obstructing justice," Doom hissed, emphasizing the sibilant syllables in his sentence. He was quite tall indeed, and willow-thin, dressed in a black suit with a long black coat and black top hat, which made his pasty plastic-looking face all the more pale and plastic looking. His chill gaze swept the room, sending shivers down her back when the man looked at her. Donald, confused by the sudden silence in the front room stepped out of the kitchen and froze in place, looking around in confusion and worry.

Knowing when to keep her mouth shut, she pressed her lips together in a puckered 'X'. Deloris glanced at her, apparently relieved that she wasn't going to make a target of herself.

Doom paced around, and asked again, "Have you seen... a _rabbit_?" this time, addressing one of the men sitting at the bar. "About... this big," Doom demonstrated the height by pressing one of the shorter men in the bar down onto his knees. "Perhaps... you need a little encouragement." Doom mused, walking over to the chalkboard with menacing footsteps that resounded through the floor. Using a one-armed man's useless sleeve, Doom erased the word 'French' from the sign that said _'Today's Special: French Dip, $.50'_.

Everyone in the room winced as Doom picked up the chalk and began to write, squeaking the chalk with every stroke.

_'Today's Special: Rabbit Dip $5000 reward'_

"Have you seen... a rabbit?" Doom asked, one final time.

Silence fell for a long moment, and finally, a man spoke up. "Yeah," Angelo said, glancing around the room, he was the man who'd ordered three scotches on the rocks in the last thirty minutes. "I've seen a rabbit." Another moment of silence fell, and everyone gaped as Angelo lifted his arm, holding it as if he'd put it around the shoulders of someone sitting on the bar stool beside him. "Say 'ello... Harvey!"

Laughter burst out around the room, and even she had to stuff her fist into her mouth. Harvey... Harvey the invisible six-foot rabbit! She giggled all the harder and thought of sending Angelo a scotch on the rocks- on _her_ tab.

Furious, Doom slammed the butt of his cane on the floor, then turned, coming into her limited line of view, gazing at her through his dark glasses, scowling as he picked up the still skipping needle off the record player. "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down," he read, then eyed her. "You hardly look the type..." his eyes turned towards Goofy, who shrank back as well. "You... on the other hand," he paused, putting the record to his nose and sniffing. "AH-HA!" abruptly, Doom flung the record aside, nailing one of his Weasels in the mouth. "He's here!"

"Shall we disresemble the place, boss?" asked one of the weasels.

"No, Smart Ass" Doom stated, "But gather these Toons up," he pointed at her, Goofy, and Donald. "Wouldn't want them interfering."

Smart Ass hopped over the bar, pointing a gun at her. "Get moving," the weasel in pink sneered at her, gesturing with his gun.

"You touch me and you'll regret it," she hissed a warning, eyes flashing with fire.

Irritated, the weasel reached for her anyway.

Terror shot her into motion and she snapped an arm out, knocking his gun-arm aside. Her foot followed, the kick to the stomach sent him sailing backwards, past Deloris and Donald and into the far wall. Donald and Goofy took that as their cue to fight as well. Unfortunately, two Weasels threw themselves across Donald and pinned him down. A moment later, Goofy was tripped up and bashed on the head by the fat stupid looking Weasel.

The weasel in pink recovered quickly enough and ran back in to attack her. Confined by the small space behind the bar, she was forced to fight bare-handed, but once she realized that both her allies were out of the game, she dropped her guard and accepted a solid smack to the face that sent her flying over the end of the bar. Of course, she landed head-first on the floor and curled up, clutching her head.

That was the chance the weasel in the straight jacket needed to grab her ankles and drag her into the center of the room, dropping her on top of Donald and Goofy.

"Gee, Sora," Goofy whispered groggily, though it hardly sounded like a whisper to her, "You sure didn't put up much of a fight."

"You didn't either!" she hissed back.

"You shut up," Smart Ass told them, then pointed, "Stupid, Psycho, Wheezy, watch them."

Turning away from the three, Doom swirled his coat and tapped with his cane on the bar while the weasels covered the room with their shaky gun-hands. Some of them didn't look to stable mentally. Carefully, she moved, untangling herself from Donald and Goofy and got her feet under her in a careful crouch that she could easily dodge in any direction from. The fat dumb weasel with the club and the propeller beanie stood over them on the left, snorting in amusement to himself. The one addressed as Wheezy stood on the right with the Psychotic one beside him, and she calculated her chances of getting past all three of them and out the door. Or just attacking that Doom guy, to cause a distraction and maybe let Roger and Eddie get away. On third thought, that back room had no other exits.

"Da. Da-da. Da. da..." Doom tapped on the bar and waited. He moved elsewhere and tapped the same pattern. Donald and Goofy twitched, watching as Doom continued, moving to the far wall finally, and she spotted the movement of shadows where the plug outlets should have been over a table. "Shave and a hair cut..." Doom tapped and the room held its collective breath.

"_TWO BITS_!" three voices shouted at once as the wall burst outward, Roger being the momentum behind it, Goofy and Donald had apparently held out as long as they could as well and now were posing on either side of her.

Looking from one to the other, she reached up and grabbed the front of Goofy's shirt and Donald's beak and yanked them down onto the floor. "Idiots," she called them both, "What're you doing?"

"We're sorry, Sora," Goofy apologized. "We couldn't help it..."

Doom latched a hand around Roger's neck, yanking the rabbit off his feet. "Hey boss, what should we do with the wallflower?" the weasel in pink asked, gesturing towards Eddie who stood visible in the busted out section of the wall.

"Right now, I feel like dispensing some justice," Doom replied with a grim smile, not even glancing at Eddie as the detective stepped out into the room and sidled over towards Deloris under the watchful eye and gun of Smart Ass. The greasy weasel and the smoker, Wheezy, immediately scurried out of the Diner and returned a second later with a large barrel. "Does the condemned have any last words?" Doom asked sarcastically as he waited for the barrel to be set down and opened.

"Why, yeah-" Roger started to say, but was choked off.

"Hey, now wait a moment!" she couldn't help but object, "I think you're skipping a few steps here! Where's his trial?"

Doom turned, scowling at her, and Stupid, taking his cue, slapped her across the back of the head with his club.

Collapsing back to the floor, tears making wavy lines down her cheeks, she clutched the back of her head, "Gees, quit abusing me! I'm _not_ a punching bag!"

Finding the strength to get her feet under her again, she shifted to her knees and adjusted her weight to something she could easily start running from, clutching Donald and Goofy close enough to whisper to them while watching the scene in front of them, "We should attack while they're distracted."

"Hey Judge," Eddie interrupted by calling out, taking a shot glass Deloris handed him, "Doesn't a dyin' rabbit deserve a last request?"

Roger added his two cents, "Yeah, nose plugs would be nice!"

Smirking, Doom withdrew Roger's head from the barrel and said, "I wouldn't mind prolonging the execution," he admitted and watched as Eddie held out a drink towards Roger.

"What's he up to?" she asked Goofy and Donald. Both of her companions shook their heads.

"I dunno, Sora," Goofy whispered back. The duck didn't have anything more to add, so he remained silent as the other patrons of the bar backed off from the Judge and his antics.

"Happy trails," Eddie said.

Roger waved a hand, "No thanks, I'm tryin to cut down."

Looming at the rabbit, Eddie insisted, "Drink the Drink."

"I don't want the drink!"

Doom chuckled, "He doesn't want the drink."

Eddie insisted, "You do!"

Roger countered, "I don't!"

"You do!"

"I don't!"

"You do!"

"I don't!"

"You do!"

"I don't!"

"You don't!"

"I do!"

"You don't!"

"I _do_!"

"You don't!"

Grabbing the shot glass, Roger shouted, "Listen, when I say I _do_, it means I do!" and with that, he knocked back the drink, splashing half of it across Judge Doom.

Eddie dived behind the bar and yanked Deloris down just as Roger began to turn colors, his bowtie twirling and ears winding around each other. Abruptly Roger shot upwards, slipping from Doom's grip with a squealing noise that shattered the mirror and broke the bottles of alcohol behind the bar one by one. Running out of steam, Roger dropped back towards the opened barrel of strange green liquid, only to be snagged by Eddie as he dived over the bar, knocking the barrel over.

Taking her cue from the detective, she called her Keyblade with a flash of light, swinging it at Stupid's face, hitting him square on with enough force to send him sailing over the bar and through the wall behind it. Goofy had called his shield and bashed Psycho flat and Donald followed that with a burst of thunder that caught Smart Ass, briefly turning him into a cartoon-x-ray-image.

"Sora, don't touch the Dip!" Goofy shouted and forged the way from the bar, leaping over the spillage.

Following close behind Goofy, she grabbed the back of Donald's shirt as she leapt the flow, missing landing in it by a hair. As soon as her foot touched the floor again, she was bounding down the stairs, Donald throwing spells at the Weasels behind them.

"Sora!" Roger called from where he and Eddie were hopping into a yellow Toon cab.

"Benny!" Donald shouted, recognizing the cab.

"Hey, it's Donald too!" Benny called, "Get in!"

Despite the absurdity of the situation, she leapt in and released Donald in favor of clutching the back of the seat in front of her, Roger and Eddie taking the front seat. "I'll drive," Eddie stated, booting Roger from the driver's seat.

"No, _I'll_ drive," the cab corrected and squealed his tires taking off.

"Aiiieeee!" she yelped in the moment of whiplash that resulted from the sudden start, clinging to the back of the front seat as they dived in and out of traffic, even driving on the sidewalk now and then. The Toon Patrol wagon full of weasels was close on their tail and she had a hard time deciding which direction to look- in front of them or behind them. Both views terrified her, for up ahead were oncoming cars and behind were guns.

The bang of a gun had her ducking instinctively; Donald turned and returned fire with a shot of ice that froze over the Toon Patrol's windshield. "Good shot, Donald!" Goofy cheered.

A sudden turn had them all nearly flying out the side of the car, leaving the Toon Patrol car unable to follow, but that didn't mean that there weren't others who could. "Eddie!" Roger shouted, "the police are right behind us!"

"I know!" Eddie shouted back just as the Toon Patrol pulled into the alley in front of them.

"Pull the _LEVER_!" Benny shouted at them and when they seemed completely blind as to what a lever looked like she pushed forward between Roger and Eddie's shoulders, grabbing the lever and yanking it. Abruptly, the car sprang upwards, sailing over the Toon Patrol, leaving both it and the two motorcycle police to crash. Swerving around and over traffic, they finally straightened out.

"Hey, guys, what do you call that thing in the middle of a song?" Benny asked.

Mind blank, she remained silent, but Roger had the answer when he looked ahead of them, "A _BRIDGE_!"

Crashing through traffic, they landed on the bridge and Eddie picked a direction, tires squealing as he turned. Picking up speed again, they dodged through traffic, leaving the weasels and Doom far behind.

* * *

_AN: If any paragraphs or sentences look odd, please tell me and they will be fixed ASAP._

_Next Chapter: Sora and his new friends have arrived in Toontown, still on Donald, Goofy, and Our Hero's trail- so close, yet so far! Can he catch up or will he forever be a day behind them?_


	10. Rhonso Are Not Cats

_Chapter 10_

_(Rhonso Are Not Cats)_

Sora's lips tried to pull downwards at the corners again. _'Not a whisper, or even vague feeling of warmth all day,'_ he thought sourly, directing his comment towards Roxas- then belatedly realized that Roxas was not there to answer. That only made the Keyblade Master all the more lonely and depressed.

"Hey! There's an ice cream stand!" Laguna chattered, "Maybe we should stop and get something. Whatcha say, Sora?"

At least he had Laguna along.

Unable to keep from smiling, Sora looked towards the taller man, then turned his gaze towards the giant blue creature that walked behind Sora's left shoulder, "You want some too, Khimari?" he asked, trying to include the Rhonso in the conversation.

Rumbling, Khimari shook his head slightly, making the folded silver braids hanging forward over his broad shoulders move.

Wincing and shrugging when Sora turned his gaze towards him, Laguna could only reply, "Can't help a party-pooper like him. Let's get him some anyway!"

Nodding with a grin, Sora agreed, "Alright!" and together, they trotted over to the ice cream cart, which was tended by a very gangly looking bug-eyed cow. The cow, in all actuality was quite representative of the locals, Sora thought, judging by the way the buildings swayed and sang and the animals talked and everything just seemed far too happy for someone dour like Riku to really enjoy. Then again, Sora mused, if Kairi invited him, he'd probably come and at least pretend to have fun. Ah, the power of Kairi! Yet another depressing thought that Sora quickly shoved aside.

"What'll you have?" the cow mooed.

Laguna pondered, "I want a double scoop of chocolate on a waffle cone!"

"Oh! Same!" Sora piped up, "And Khimari..." as one, they looked back at the Rhonso.

"..." Khimari said, staring down at them.

"Khimari will have a single scoop of vanilla," Sora decided. "Cats shouldn't have chocolate after all."

Khimari sweatdropped.

Laguna laughed and shuffled in his belt pouch amidst the folds of his thigh-length dark blue robe, which was opened down the front, revealing a white muscle shirt beneath. The robes were then belted around his thin hips and beneath that he wore a pair of black slacks tucked into combat boots. Finally pulling out the munny to pay for the ice cream, Laguna handed over the cash while Sora collected the ice creams and passed the Vanilla to Khimari, who reluctantly took it, looking so absurd that Sora and Laguna burst out laughing again.

Once the mage apprentice had finished paying, Sora handed his ice cream over and turned, "I guess we should ask someone where we are," the brunet teen said and took a slurp at his ice cream as he started walking, taking the lead with Laguna on his right and Khimari behind him to the left. It was difficult to tell the time of day in this town, but Sora knew well enough that it was morning. His first day away from Roxas...

"I guess," Laguna agreed, "But who? I mean, everyone around here seems a bit nutty," this was spoken as a fire truck went careening by, the ladder fully extended and a black and white dog-man hanging off the end. Instinctively, the three strangers to the town ducked as the dog-man's feet went flying by at head-height. Turning to watch the fire truck continue down the street and swing around the corner on two wheels, Sora and Laguna licked their ice creams with blank-eyed expressions.

"Very nutty," Sora agreed.

"Nyahh, what's up, Doc? How's the investigation goin?"

Blinking, Sora turned to stare at a six-foot-tall gray rabbit that stood with his weight on one hip, loudly chewing a carrot, "Investigation?" Sora asked, wide-eyed blinking.

Leaning in, the rabbit looked him over and added, "I think you've gotten taller. Where's Donald and Goofy?"

"You've seen them!" Sora demanded, stepping forward urgently, "The short kid that looks like me and Donald and Goofy?"

"Yeah... I've seen Sora... why?"

Pausing, Sora straightened, looked at his dripping ice cream and quickly licked up the mess before replying, "Because that's not Sora. _I'm_ Sora. I'm looking for the guy who's pretending to be me. He's not done anything weird, has he?"

Laguna piped up, "Who are you anyway?"

Khimari just stood there, holding his ice cream in a large paw, watching it melt across his hand. He didn't even bother changing his expression to one appropriately disgusted, he just stood there.

For a moment, the rabbit stared at them, then finally stated, "I'm Bugs Bunny. An' as far as I've seen, the kid hasn't done anythin' weird- which in this town _is_ weird." Folding his arms and shifting his weight, Bugs added, "Look, I've got things I gotta do, you just take this message to the kid for me. I seen the guys in black cloaks sneakin around near the border of Toontown, near Acme's factory. They wuz with a tall guy with long black hair and a white coat, drawn in your style," he gestured vaguely at Sora. "So long, folks." Turning, Bugs started off, apparently wanting nothing to do with Sora and his identity crisis.

"Wait! Bugs- at least tell me which way my Imposter and Donald and Goofy went!" Sora called.

"They wuz headin to the Ink and Paint Club, last I hurd, but that wuz yesterday," Bugs called over his shoulder without stopping.

Looking towards Laguna, who'd managed to get ice cream on his nose, Sora sighed, "It's a start at least," he admitted, then lifted his own dessert to lick at before it melted too much.

Smiling, Laguna replied, "And we're only a day behind them! They might still be here- especially if that guy, Bugs, is still giving them messages."

Nodding as he thought on it more, Sora straightened as it occurred to him, "And he said guys in black cloaks! Could it be the Organization?"

Laguna could only shrug, "I've never seen them personally," he admitted, "Maybe?"

"Looks like we've got more than one job to do here," Sora said, then turned, pumping a fist into the air, "No _problem_!"

Grinning, Laguna joined the fun and put a fist into the air too, "We can do it!"

In unison, Laguna and Sora turned to look at Khimari, who was still staring at his fist and the sticky mess of vanilla ice cream dripping from it.

"Right..." Sora said, getting a dour expression briefly, "Let's get directions to the Ink and Paint Club then! I wonder what kind of crafts they do there?"

"Maybe they make scenery?" Laguna suggested innocently and tottered after Sora as the teen started off again, looking around for someone with a bit more sanity than the usual crowd to ask directions from.

It wasn't more than a hundred feet later that a pair of Toons, one small yellow bird and one cat, went by running so fast they left trails of smoke in their wake. Doing a double take, the two skidded to a stop, turned around, and came back to halt stiffly in front of the three Anime styled Toons. Looking to each other, the pair blinked, "Well!" said the small yellow bird, "Gosh. More foreign imports!"

"Shufferin Succotash! What'shpp the world comin' to?" the black and white cat asked, spitting all over as he spoke. Sora protected his ice cream by eating the last of it in one large gulp. Laguna blinked at him, expression having turned to nothing but large green eyes.

Lifting a finger, the yellow bird said, "I hoid they've got no sense a humor!"

Silence fell, and in unison, Khimari, Sora, and Laguna said, "..."

The cat and bird turned to stare at them and the only sound to be heard was the splat-splat of vanilla ice cream dripping off Khimari's hand.

Looking to each other again, the cat suggested, "Ya' think we should give it a try, Tweety?"

Tweety merely shrugged.

Briefly turning away, the cat paused, then spun back around again, fingers in his mouth, flapping his tongue.

"_EEEK_!" Laguna shrieked, throwing is ice cream as he turned chibi and latched onto Sora's head.

Tipping slowly, Sora said, "Ah... Laguna... what're you doing?"

Blinking very- _very_ large eyes, the mage replied, "Umm... he scared me!" In a poof, Laguna returned to normal size- still latched onto Sora's head. Shrieking, the pair went down in a pile.

"Nope," Tweety said, "I guess they ain't got no sense a humor." With that, the bird turned and ran off on his little orange legs, the cat taking chase a second later.

Climbing off Sora, Laguna grabbed the young man's hand and helped him up. Once Sora was on his feet, Laguna looked at his empty hands and observed. "I lost my ice cream..."

"You shouldn't have thrown it," Sora replied.

A soft growl behind them made the pair turn to look at Khimari.

"Oops," Laguna murmured and reached up to pick the upside down ice cream cone off Khimari's head. "Sorry, Khimari."

Shaking his head, Sora sighed, "I hope the whole world isn't like this. Look, there's someone- let's ask him!" Pointing towards a humanoid man about half Sora's height, the young man didn't waste a moment before running over and leaning down. "S'cuse me, sir?" he asked, then reeled back as the strange man whirled around, aiming a shotgun at Sora's nose.

"Shhh! Be Vwary- Vwary qwiet! I'm hunting Wabbits!" the man said.

"Ah- it'll only take a second," Sora said, lowering his voice to whisper, "Do you know how to get to the Ink and Paint Club?"

Looking Sora over, then looking back towards Khimari and Laguna, the man finally sated, "It's just down the stweet." Pausing, the man just pulled out a map and held it out to Sora. "'X' mawks the spwot! Good bye!" With that, the hunter stalked onwards, looking incredibly conspicuous.

Opening the map, Sora looked down at it with Laguna peering over his shoulder. "Well, I guess we're here, where the blinking red dot is," Laguna said and pointed, reaching around Sora.

"Ah. In that case, we should get going!"

As one, Laguna and Sora nodded to each other and started off, attempting to avoid further delaying insanity along the way.

* * *

Sora supposed that he'd just gotten lucky in his guess on which world to try first. However, he figured as the three of them stared at the dilapidated building with a faded sign over the front doors proclaiming it the 'Ink and Paint', his luck had run out.

"This doesn't look like a crafts club at all," Laguna commented, "In fact. It looks like a bar. You know. The first woman I ever loved used to work at a bar. She played the piano," he sighed, "Ahh, Julia..." Shaking his head, his imagination bubble popped into a puff of smoke.

Folding his arms, Sora frowned, "I don't understand. Why would Aros take Donald and Goofy here?" he asked rhetorically as a Toon duck went around them, heading towards a side alley.

Pausing, the duck looked back at them, "Did you shay 'Donald'?" the black and white duck sputtered.

Expressions brightening, Sora and Laguna turned towards the duck, Sora answering, "Yes! I'm looking for a guy who looks like me- only shorter, he's with Donald and Goofy. Have you seen them?"

The duck shook his head, "Donald hashn't been here in yearsh!"

Sora sighed, "But Bugs said they'd been heading _here_ yesterday!"

"Lishten," the duck said, spreading his hands, "They haven't been here. Donald would have shaid hi to me if no one elshe."

Laguna lifted a finger, eaten up with curiosity, "So why would Donald be in a place like this?"

Blinking at them, the duck replied, "He worked here. Played the piano in a dueling keyboard shkit with me." Sora looked towards Laguna, but the duck continued, "Now I jusht do a bashing shkit with Fudd. Have you sheen him? He'sh late... again."

"Uh," Sora scratched the back of his head, "I wouldn't know if I had or not," he admitted.

"Shay, how do _you_ know Donald? You guysh look like Foreign Import Toons," the duck replied. "Who are you anyway?"

Straightening, Sora said, "I'm Sora. Donald, Goofy and I met in another town..." he paused, having to edit out a lot of things, unsure of what the duck knew about the other worlds. "We're in the Heartless Defeating business," he finished.

Grinning, Laguna replied, "I'm Laguna, Donald's Mage Apprentice at Disney Castle!"

Silence fell and the three of them turned to look at Khimari. The large cat-like being just rumbled, "..."

"Ah, Mister Kitty-cat there is named Khimari," Sora supplied, "He's a guard at the castle."

Khimari flicked his ears downwards, "..."

Looking them over, the duck finally nodded and held out a hand, "The namesh Daffy. Sho the King finally got our messhage. Should have figured he'd take ash long anshwering it ash we took writing it."

Taking Daffy's hand, Sora shook it and admitted, "The King's been kidnapped. I'm sort of looking for him too. At least most of the hostages seem to be held by the same person, so that makes my job easier. Could you tell me what's been going on around here, though? Since we're here, we may as well do what we can to help."

Daffy nodded and gestured, "Come on around back," he said and turned, heading on the way he'd been going, which was towards a dirty alley. Stepping in, they headed towards a large wooden side door where Daffy knocked a pattern. The door swung open to reveal a large ape, looming there. "Theshe guysh are with me," Daffy said to the door-ape.

With a rumbling grunt, the ape said, "..." and stepped aside.

Khimari gave a slight nod of respect to the Toon ape, apparently recognizing a like spirit, and they filed past, heading through a dim back hall to a door, which Daffy opened and stepped into. Inside the door was a small room with a couch and makeup vanity. There was a single window on the back wall that had a view of the alley. "I ushed to have a bigger dresshing room, but then Jesshica came and shtole the shtar shpot," Daffy complained. "At leasht she doeshn't rub it in my fashe, but lately the plache hash been in a messh! What with Acme being killed by a Toon and Jesshica's hushband, Roger, bein' involved."

"Um," Sora said, "Could you explain who Acme, Roger, and Jessica are?"

Pausing to look at Sora, Daffy sighed, "I guessh you _aren't_ from around here. Acme ownsh thish plache, and he ownsh Toontown, and the Gag factory. Jesshica ish a shinger-" he paused, hopping over to his window, standing on the couch under it to peer out. "And there she ish now! She can tell you more." Turning, the duck hopped to the floor and ran out the door of his dressing room.

Sora and Laguna exchanged glances, Laguna shrugging.

Again, the door banged open, Daffy leading and in the middle of speaking, "-they work for the King."

Honestly, Sora had not even noticed Daffy. All he'd seen the moment the door opened was the woman's large breasts, barely contained by the top of her red dress, which also had no visible means of support. She flicked her gaze up and down him, dark lashes briefly unveiling her jade green eyes and she gave a toss of her head, flipping her brilliant red hair back over her shoulder.

"Sora," Laguna said, finally getting Sora's attention, "Sora, your nose is bleeding..."

Hands flying to his face, Sora turned bright red, "Um," was all he could say, watching as the redhead sauntered past him, head turned to look as she walked over to the couch and took a seat.

"Daffy says you work for the King," she said as if having boys spontaneously break out in nosebleeds at her was normal. It probably was, but Sora blushed again anyway.

Laguna, looking at Sora, then the woman stepped into the vacant spot of Spokesman and said, "Yes, ma'am! Daffy said you might be able to explain some of what's going on around here?"

She nodded and shifted, "Of course."

Finally recovering, Sora wiped his nose and sniffed, starting with introductions, "I'm Sora, that's Laguna, and Khimari," he pointed, "Could you start with Acme's murder?"

"My name is Jessica Rabbit," she replied and accepted the cigarette Daffy offered her. Daffy then retreated to sit on the stool at his vanity table. Taking a drag on it, Jessica blew out a breath before continuing, "Yesterday, Acme, the owner of this club, the Gag Factory on the outskirts of Toontown, and Toontown itself, was murdered by a Toon... he'd had... a safe dropped on his head." She sighed, looking down, "My husband, Roger, is the only suspect in the murder because of... His boss, R.K. Maroon blackmailed me into posing for some patty cake pictures with Acme- he said Roger would never work in this town again if I didn't. The next morning, they found Acme dead and ...Roger had said some things in the heat of the moment that probably didn't mean what they sounded like." Lifting a gloved hand, she put it on her forehead, covering her face, then looked up at them from beneath her hair, "Maroon got an offer from Cloverleaf Industries, a local banking corporation, and he wanted to sell- except Cloverleaf said they wouldn't buy unless Acme sold his property too. Maroon's plan was just to Blackmail Acme into selling Toontown. I didn't know it would go so far... and I know that Roger didn't do it."

Leaning forward, Laguna touched her wrist, drawing her attention to him as he smiled in a sparkling reassuring way, "Lady," he said softly, "You can count on us! We'll find out who did it and clear your husband's name!"

Sora clenched a fist and stepped forward, immediately agreeing, "Yeah!"

Continuing, Laguna perched on the couch beside her and said, "Do you have any ideas of who might have done it?"

"Maroon," Jessica replied immediately, "He's the only one with a motive, but it just doesn't seem his style," she added, "Why blame us? The fact that he used Roger, his biggest star, in the ploy was rather heartless, but I don't understand why he would ruin his business just to sell it."

"Heartless?" Sora asked, meeting Laguna's eyes as the mage glanced over. "Jessica, you may have just stumbled on the why after all."

Laguna nodded in agreement to that, "Yeah, Heartless are... pretty heartless."

"We'll look into it," Sora finished, "But I'm also here on a more personal mission- have you seen a kid that looks like me, but shorter, last seen with Goofy and Donald?"

Jessica paused, looking Sora over, then said, "I thought you looked familiar," she said, "He was with Eddie and Roger at the Diner, last I saw. I can't find my Hunny Bunnie anywhere now. They made quite a mess, running from the Weasels this morning, but after that..." Looking away, she lifted her cigarette and took a drag from it again, her thoughts an enigma behind the curtain of hair hiding half her oval face. "I'd watch out for the Weasels," she warned them, "They're working for Judge Doom. He's ruthless. A Toon hater." Again she paused, then looked up at Sora and added, "Acme had a will, but no one can find it. While you're out looking, could you...? Acme promised to leave Toontown to us Toons when he died, but if the will isn't found by midnight tonight, Cloverleaf will have Toontown and it won't matter what Maroon did to Roger's career because Toons will be even more oppressed and all Roger's work will be for nothing."

This time, in unison, Laguna and Sora stated, "You can count on us!"

Getting to her feet, Jessica turned and leaned down to place a kiss on Laguna's mouth, then straightened, approaching Sora, who'd started blushing again. Lifting a hand, she tipped his chin up and leaned in, pressing her lips to his, then stepped back, trailing her fingers on his jaw as she sauntered out of Daffy's dressing room.

Eyes nothing but blank holes, mouth gaping, Sora toppled backwards, crashing to the floor as a chibi.

* * *

_AN: If any paragraphs or sentences look odd, please tell me and they will be fixed ASAP._

_Next Chapter: Sora learns that he should trust warnings given by friends and Roxas begins his quest in the World that Never Was. Whoever thought immortality was a gift was seriously messed up in the head._


	11. Unexpected Enemies

_Chapter 11_

_(Unexpected Enemies)_

"You know, Sora," Laguna said, "From what we've been hearing about Aros, he doesn't seem like a bad guy. I mean, he's apparently helping Roger..."

Sora nodded as he walked down the back hall of the Ink and Paint Club, heading towards the back door. "Yeah, but then again, if he acted any differently, Donald and Goofy would notice that he wasn't me." Staring at the floor as he went, Sora pursed his lips, a smirk creeping across them again as he remembered what had only happened a few minutes ago. What a woman!

Laguna admitted, "Yeah, they would be suspicious. But do you really think Aros is that devious? He'd only get to play that card once with Donald and Goofy, and then they'd know."

Sora nodded, "Yeah. Only once. But what would Aros do to Donald and Goofy once he'd revealed himself?" Coming to the side door of the club, Sora looked around, finding that the ape man was away from his post. "Guess we'll just let ourselves out," he stated and unlatched the door, swinging it open and stepped out, turning towards the mouth of the alley just as a figure in black swung out of a window just down the alley.

"Darn it! They never send me on jobs I'm any good at," a familiar voice grouched, "The boss is going to kill me if I don't find that stupid thing! I guess I'd better not delay the inevitable and report."

Gasping in shock, Sora shouted, "Hey!"

Turning, the Organization Thirteen member's hood fell back, revealing his short upward-swept blonde hair, his eyes wide.

"Demyx!" Sora gasped at the man in the black coat.

"_You_!" Demyx gasped in return, then looked puzzled, "I thought you were with-" Demyx paused, lifting a finger and tipping his head sideways, expression turning all eyes as he said, "Are there _two_ of you?"

Calling his Keyblade, Sora leapt forward, not waiting for Demyx to complete his thoughts.

Yelping in panic, the young-looking Nobody spun on his toes and dashed for the street. "Come back here!" Sora shouted, right on Demyx's heels.

"_THUNDER_!"

The crackle of lightning hit a light pole just beside Sora as he passed, and startled, the young man skidded to a stop, looking around for the source, then looked back towards Demyx, just in time to see him dive into a portal of Darkness. Spinning around, Sora frowned at Laguna, "You distracted me!" he complained to the inept mage as Laguna trotted out of the alley.

Sheepishly shrugging, Laguna replied, "I'm better with a machine gun."

Sighing, Sora shook his head and stated, "Well, now we know it really is the Organization, and Bugs told us where they've been meeting lately. Let's see if we can't find that factory?"

Nodding, Laguna quickly agreed, pulling out the map once more to take a look at it, "Well, isn't that helpful, the map put an X on our new destination!"

Pulling the map down so he could see it, Sora grunted, "Huh. Well, it looks like a right from here. I'm getting tired of walking..."

"Yeah, the bottoms of my feet itch," Laguna complained.

"At least it's not far from here," Sora finished.

Behind them, Khimari just stood there, looking incredibly out of place in the strange scenery.

Shrugging with a smile, Laguna said, "Well, we'd better get going then! Better done sooner than never!"

With a nod, Sora turned and started off.

* * *

Roxas took a breath and adjusted his coat. Though he knew well enough that wearing this thing was probably asking for a lot of trouble, he felt rather odd being in this city and not wearing it. So he walked through the tall sky-scraper-lined streets. The castle loomed above it all like a shining beacon of hope. Except there was no hope in a place like this.

Sure, people lived in this city, but they only went out on the streets when they had to. And they knew better than to get in the way of an Organization member. Therefore, Roxas wasn't surprised when he met no one and saw many eyes peering out of windows at him from the buildings around.

This... this was the World that Never Was. This was a dismal hell of endless rain and endless night, lit only by the occasional flash from the collection of hearts called Kingdom Hearts, which was a growing creation above the white castle of nightmares.

Lifting a hand, Roxas pulled his hood slightly lower to fend off the rain, and prying eyes that might recognize exactly who he was, feeling unnerved by the eyes staring at him. He was out of place here. He wasn't a true Nobody anymore. He had half of Sora's heart- and within it lay a certainty that the Girl they were looking for wasn't here.

Though he wanted to find her just as much as Sora did, Roxas knew they needed information just as badly, and this was the only place he could get it. Overhead, the rain started again, drenching the already soaked ground. Where all the water came from, or where it went was beyond Roxas's knowledge- all he knew was that it was a nuisance.

Ahead, the shadows moved, and Roxas came to a stop, hands out at his sides, ready to call his Keyblades.

"Didn't think I wouldn't recognize you... Roxas?" a voice asked as the shadow detached itself from the side of a building, stepping fully into the street.

Relief, clean and blessed, filled Roxas and he breathed, letting his shoulders drop as he shook his head. "If you're asking if I thought this was a good disguise... well, no. I knew it wasn't," he answered, "But this thing's pretty good at keeping out the rain." Lifting his chin, Roxas flashed a patented Sora-grin at the other that paced through the rain towards him.

"Heh. What care do we have for rain? We're dead already," the man said, coming to a stop in front of Roxas, then lifted his hands and shoved his hood back enough to reveal his face.

Roxas shrugged, "Not quite, Axel. You're here, after all."

"And so are you," Axel pointed out, "Why?"

Ruefully, the blonde shrugged with one shoulder, "Looking for you. Looking for information. Got anywhere out of the rain?"

Nodding, Axel gestured, "This way. You're lucky I'm the only one who noticed you. The others are right ticked and won't hesitate to kill you. Not that it'd really do anything, but Xemnas would think it a fun game to see how many times he could do it till there was nothing left of you." Turning partially, Axel gestured, heading back towards the building he'd been standing against and Roxas followed.

Silence fell between them as they headed into an alley. Stopping at a small side door, Axel pulled out a key and unlocked it, gesturing for Roxas to go ahead, then stepped in behind, closing the door again. The room they entered was a stairwell and Axel pushed his wet hood back as he stepped past Roxas, heading up the stairs. "Though I'm touched you came," Axel stated, voice and boot-steps echoing in the empty stairwell as he headed up, "I wish you hadn't."

Falling in behind, Roxas paused, looking up at his friend with a faint frown, "Why?" he asked bluntly.

"Because it's dangerous. ...Roxas, I don't want them to get their hands on you again." Axel didn't pause as he spoke and Roxas jogged up the steps to catch up with the tall redhead before he got around the bend in the stairs, heading up to the second floor, "DiZ's plots and experiments were bad enough, but what Xemnas will do to you when he finds out that you're here... He'll stop at nothing to get back at Sora, even if you're all that's left of him. What happened to him anyway?"

"He's around," Roxas replied, "We parted willingly." Ahead, Axel pushed open the door to the second floor and stepped through, holding the door for Roxas. It shut behind them with a loud bang, Axel leading the way down a long dark hall. "As long as I stay out of Xemnas's view, I should be fine. Sora and his imposter, Aros, will take heat off me."

This made Axel stop in his tracks and look back at the blonde, "...huh," he grunted finally and turned, pulling out a key again to unlock a door on the hall and stepped in, locking the door again behind Roxas.

The apartment they now stood in was bare except for a sleeping bag and couple of threadbare blankets piled in the corner. A slightly busted cup and plate sat dirty on the floor near the bedding, and only dust occupied the other corners. "You live here?" Roxas asked.

Shrugging, Axel replied, "Not like I've got a choice. The Organization won't take me back... not after what I did. Choosing to side with you and Sora... sealed my fate with them. Not that I mind."

"But now you've got nothing to really live for," Roxas finished and unzipped his wet Organization coat and after a glance around, just dropped it in a soggy pile on the floor. There was nowhere to hang it anyway. Turning towards Axel, who was staring off towards the window, Roxas continued, "Like I said outside. I came here looking for you, and for information. How... are you back?"

Turning his eyes towards his friend, Axel finally sighed and lifted his hands, unzipping his coat, pulling it off and bundling it up to hurl at the far wall with a wet splat, "Because I'm not just a Nobody, I'm Nothing," he scowled, "Not even allowed a restful death."

"Nothing..." Roxas repeated softly and chose a place to flop to the floor, "Explain?" was his request as he looked up at Axel.

Lifting his hands, the redhead pulled his black gloves off and dropped them to the floor as well, "You know how Heartless just come back when you leave the hearts that made them just sitting around? Well, Nobodies do that too. You can't destroy Nothing. Xemnas was right. We are immortal."

Pressing his lips together, Roxas shook his head, "No- no!" Getting to his feet, the young man began pacing, "If that's true then there will never be a way to get rid of Xemnas, or the Organization, or Maleficent!"

Moving to the window, Axel folded his arms over his chest, wrinkling his dark green sleeveless shirt that was slightly damp, making it cling to his skin, "Got it in one," Axel sighed, leaning his head against the wall. "You realize how depressing that is? No matter how many times I die... no matter how bad it was, I'll always come back. You on the other hand..."

Roxas stopped and turned to look at Axel, eyes going wide, then sad. The things he'd wanted to say to Axel were all there, but now tied and tangled behind his teeth, unable to come out. Silence fell between them as the blonde looked down at the floor.

"Don't get that look, Roxas. I don't blame you."

Pushing off the wall, Axel dropped his arms to his sides and stepped over, placing his hands on Roxas's shoulders.

Lifting his head, Roxas searched Axel's face, then stepped forward, putting his arms around the redhead's waist, head against Axel's chest.

Shocked, Axel could do little more than stand there, mouth open, then finally placed his arms around Roxas in return. "Alright," he sighed, "Little squirt, I'll help you. Since you asked so nicely."

Laughing softly, Roxas drew back to look up at his friend again and pointed out, "I hadn't even gotten around to asking."

"I knew you would," Axel sighed, "Not sure how much help I'd be, though. I've got no contact with anyone inside the castle."

Stepping back fully, Roxas nodded, "But you've still got the ability to open dark portals. I don't."

Raising his brows, Axel grunted, "I see. Yeah, that would probably be useful. Alright. It's better than sitting around in this dump. Shall we do a little spying?"

Flashing a grin at his friend, Roxas nodded. "Just like the old days!"

Laughing, Axel shook his head, "You're incorrigible."

Roxas didn't bother denying. Instead, he just grinned.

* * *

"Well, this is it," Sora announced, coming to a stop as he looked up from the map he held to the building they'd arrived at.

The building was a typical warehouse on the outside, but behind it was the cheerful unnatural blue sky and happy sun of Toontown. In front of the building was an old parking lot with weeds growing in the cracks of the asphalt. "Sort of run-down, isn't it?" Laguna commented.

Taking a breath, Sora shook his head, "Yeah, but we're not here to critique the place. We're here to find the Organization."

"Well... then isn't it a coincidence. You found us."

Folding the map quickly, Sora stuffed it into his side-pack with one hand while he called his Keyblade, looking around for the source of the chill voice. Finally, he located his enemy, who was standing atop roof of the factory, a chill wind blowing his cloak and long blonde curls dramatically.

Stepping forward in shock, Sora gasped, "Vexen!"

Lifting a hand, Vexen flipped his hair from his face as he replied, "Hmf." Leaping forward, the Organization member landed lightly on the ground, then called his own shield, "Prepare to die."

Without waiting for more talk, Sora leapt forward, swinging his blade, only to encounter Vexen's shield. A blast of ice knocked the young man backwards. "Fire!" Laguna shouted, flinging his spell at their enemy, the attack hit the ground beside Vexen, doing no damage. Khimari leapt forward, his weapon appearing in his hands as he went into blurring motion.

Rolling to his feet, Sora dashed in, right on Khimari's heels, then split off, going to the right as Khimari went for a head-on attack. Making his choice, Vexen turned to meet Sora's attack with his large icy shield and side-stepped Khimari's jab with his spear.

Again, Laguna tried, "Thunder!" and this time, he actually hit his target, making Vexen pause long enough for Sora to dart around behind the man and stab him in the back.

Staggering forward, Vexen spun around to fling icicles in a broad sweep.

Khimari easily leapt over the attack and closed on Vexen, but his stab was blocked by Vexen's shield once more.

Swinging his Keyblade, Sora slashed at the icicles that would have hit him, shards flying everywhere, one slicing him across the cheek. As Khimari went flying- thrown by Vexen's retaliation strike, Sora dashed in, feinted to the left, then rolled around right just as a bolt of lightning hit the spot he'd been just a second ago, briefly blinding both Vexen and Sora.

His roar echoing off the walls, Khimari's spear stabbed through Vexen's side, making the man stagger.

Looking from Sora to the blue monster, Vexen turned, flinging a hand out. Without a word, he leapt into his dark portal and it closed behind him.

Staggering to his feet, Sora sighed, rubbing his eyes with one hand, "Geez, Laguna! Could your aim be any worse?"

"Sorry! Get me a machine gun then! Being a mage is a lot different than anything else I've been," Laguna defended.

Dropping his hand, Sora looked over at his mage and sighed, giving a slight smile, "Just keep working on it, you'll get it eventually, I'm sure."

Pausing, Laguna blinked, then smiled back, "Thanks."

Sora turned to Khimari and added, "You did good work too, Khimari." Khimari merely nodded silently, leaving Sora to look around the parking lot again. Finally, he turned towards the front door of the factory. "Maybe Vexen ported inside?" he suggested, "We'd better check out this place top to bottom before we leave."

"Where're we going to go next?" Laguna asked.

"The Diner where Aros was this morning. He may not be there now, but we can ask what happened there," Sora replied, then started forward. Pushing the door open, Sora stuck his head in, then looked back towards his companions, gesturing for them to follow.

Slipping in through the door, the brunet stared around, taking note of the crates and boxes stacked up along the sides of the room. There were many strangely shaped objects covered in canvas cloths, and the smell of turpentine filled the air. "Ugh," he muttered and pinched his nose.

Stepping in further, he began to wander around, taking note of the chalk outline on the floor and the deep dent in the concrete of the floor, "Guess this is what's left of Mister Acme," Sora observed, then looked up at the ceiling which was made of rafters with tracks for cranes to move on and go back and forth across the room. There were objects suspended from the crane hooks- things like the ton of bricks off near the center of the room.

Laguna yelped, jumping back from a pile of boxes he'd unbalanced when he'd merely intended to pry the top one open. The boxes crashed to the floor, their lids coming off and contents- marbles of every color and size- spilling across the floor, spreading out in a large mess. "Oops," Laguna said, turning to look over his shoulder with a sweatdrop, "I lost the marbles..."

"I'd say clean it up, but that'd take all day," Sora sighed, "Try not to knock anything else over?"

Nodding, Laguna carefully picked his way across the marble spillage and locked his hands behind him as he peered at other stacks of boxes. Sora headed to the other side of the room and paused, picking up a small flat box that said, _'Acme Black Spot'_. Curious, Sora glanced over his shoulder at Laguna and opened the box carefully, finding nothing but a floppy black circle. Picking it up, he tried stretching it. Unable to find a use for such an object, Sora folded it and put it back in its box and moved on for a quick visual check of the rest of the room. "Well, I don't see anything here," he admitted.

Laguna called back, "Yeah. This place is weird, but nothing strikes me as being made by the Organization or Heartless."

"I guess it's on to the Diner then," Sora said, heading back towards the door, careful of the marbles. Khimari, who had taken up a guard position at the door, gave a nod to the swordsman and mage as they returned.

Pulling out his map again, Sora looked at it. "This thing's so useful..." he said, "Straight ahead!"

* * *

_AN: If any paragraphs or sentences look odd, please tell me and they will be fixed ASAP._

_Next Chapter: In everyone, there's a point where the stress is just too much and things start to break down- honestly, our Hero has passed that point, and Roger isn't making it any better. Taking courage in both hands, our Hero Faces the Truth- but once known, there's no going back._


	12. Facing the Truth

_Chapter 12_

_(Facing the Truth)_

"What's wrong with him?" Roger asked of Goofy and Donald, jerking a thumb towards her from where he sat a few seats down in the theater row.

She blinked and breathed. Air was very good. Yes. And so was sitting still in a nice quiet movie theater playing nothing more frightening than silly violent cartoons- then again, she doubted she'd ever look at cartoons the same after this trip. Currently playing was a cartoon featuring Goofy, and absurdly, Goofy was cackling at it. She might have laughed too if she wasn't feeling completely drained of color and blank-eyed.

After their wild cab ride, Benny had dropped them off at a movie theater- why Eddie had chosen to go there, she didn't know. Currently, he was off talking to Deloris on a payphone in the lobby, leaving the Toons to their own devices- probably hoping to god that they didn't get wild and draw attention to themselves.

"He'sh not ushed to thingsh like what happened today," Donald explained, looking over sympathetically. No... no she wasn't used to wild car chases with gun-wielding cartoons shooting at her. She wasn't used to narrowly avoiding oncoming traffic and hopping bridges or many of the other things she'd done today. While the whole working in a bar thing was novel too, it was something she could handle, something simple! What had followed immediately afterwards...

She took a calming breath.

Roger gave a thoughtful humm, then hopped over to her, dropping into the seat beside her and asking, "So where're you from, anyway?"

Taking another breath, she lifted her head from where she'd had it lain against the back of the seat and blinked at Roger once, finally collecting her wits, enough to have a conversation with him. Her drawing style returning to normal as she replied, "Mostly New York," she replied, glancing towards Donald and Goofy who were cackling at one of the cartoons playing on the screen. "It was where I was most often. I guess Okinawa originally though..." that was where she'd entered the System after all.

Reminded of those distant days, she thought back... her style changing to include more detail, eyes shimmering in the light from the movie screen she stared at without seeing.

When was it that she'd learned as much of the truth as they were going to tell her? Oh yes, she remembered. She'd been eight when she'd asked what had happened to her parents. As an answer, she'd been told that when she was around three, the medics had found her wandering near a car wreck that had killed a young couple in the American military that was listed as having a child about her age. When they'd found that the parents hadn't had their daughter with them, it was too late, she was listed in the papers as being an orphan and already halfway to America, sporting some other girl's name and birthdate. Instead of going to the elder brother of her assumed parents, she was sent to an orphanage and the guy got custody of his real niece. At least they'd managed to fix her name in the papers...

Blinking, she turned her face slightly away from him, not wanting him to see the tears that stung her eyes. The real pain of the situation was that she couldn't remember her real parents, or if she'd ever had any siblings and what could have possibly happened to them. Those memories were somewhere, held close, but separate from her so that they could not hurt her.

"Gee, New York," Roger mused, breaking into her thoughts, "that's on the other side of th' _continent_. I guess things just don't run by the same rules over there. So tell me about it?" He flung popcorn around wildly as he threw his hands into the air.

Stopping herself from muttering that she wouldn't know if it was different, she lifted her head and looked around for something to distract Roger with. That was when Eddie came back and took a seat a row behind them. "Deloris is on her way with a car," he told them.

Taking a breath, she slid down in her seat, putting a foot up on the chair in front of her, "Listen, Roger, I told you before, I don't talk about the past. Watch the cartoons and behave, and quit bugging me about it."

"Aww," Roger pouted, "You're about as sour as that sourpuss back there," he pointed at Eddie.

Reaching forward, the detective grasped Roger's ears and yanked him back to drop into the seat beside him, "Settle down," Eddie ordered, "we're supposed to be hiding. What's wrong with you?"

Roger retorted immediately, "What's wrong with you? You and him are the only ones not laughing in this place. Is there nothing that can permeate your impervious puss?" Thinking a moment, he suddenly said, "Hey Eddie!" and yanking out his lips with his fingers, he waggled his tongue.

Eddie just stared at him, and she even turned to look, a sweatdrop sliding down the side of her head at Roger's display. Releasing his mouth, Roger sighed, "Boy, nothin'! What could have possibly have happened to make you such a sourpuss?"

"You really wanna know?" Eddie asked, apparently more willing to talk about his past than she was, which was good since Roger's attention was now thoroughly riveted upon the detective. "I'll tell ya. A Toon killed my brother."

Even Donald and Goofy looked back at that, eyes wide. "Ol Teddy?" Goofy gasped.

Silence fell amongst the group as Eddie continued, "We were doin' a gig in Toontown, investigating a big bank robbery. That was when the Toon dropped a piano on us, broke my arm, Teddy never made it. All I can remember is wakin up, looking into those burning red eyes and hearing that annoying high pitched laughter."

Roger burst into tears, "No wonder you hate me! If a Toon killed my brother, I'd hate me too!"

Shaking his head, Eddie sighed and looked away, obviously uncomfortable, then said, "Oh, come on, don't cry. I don't hate ya."

"Yes you do!" Roger sobbed, wiping his eyes with his ears and blew his nose on them.

"No I don't," Eddie replied.

Sniffling, Roger looked towards him, "You do! Otherwise, you wouldn'tta yanked my ears all those times!"

Looking away again, as if hunting for patience, Eddie sighed and said, "Well, I'm sorry I yanked your ears."

"_ALL_ those times you yanked my ears?" Roger clasped his hands together, looking up at Eddie with wide pleading eyes.

"Yeah, all those times," Eddie agreed, though he didn't quite sound like he was _that_ sorry about it.

Grinning, Roger sat back and offered a hand out, "Apology accepted! Putter there, Pal!" Grasping Eddie's hand before he could dodge it, Roger pumped the human's arm a few times, then turned back towards her. "What about you? Did a Toon kill your brudder too?"

She just stared at him, then said to Eddie, "You could have milked the Angst factor a bit longer, you know." With that, she turned around.

"Aww," Roger pouted, "P-p-please! Sora, tell us what happened?"

Frowning, she sighed and slid further into her seat and stated, "I don't _remember_ what happened, Roger! That's the truth of it. Okay?"

"Boy, it musta been something awful," Roger commented.

Sighing, she stared at her shoe, moving her toe to cover half the screen, then closed one eye, then the other, watching the way her perspective of her foot jumped as she admitted softly, "Whatever happened, it was my fault. I screwed up." Realizing what she was saying, she closed her mouth and frowned.

Abruptly, she dropped her foot to the floor and stood, "I'm going to get some fresh air, okay? I'll stay out of sight and trouble," she looked towards Eddie, "Promise." He nodded and she slid past Donald and Goofy who watched her go with wide eyes.

"Sora..." Goofy started, but she ignored him and headed up the aisle and stepped over the rope at the door.

In the lobby, she looked around, hunting for somewhere she could go that would be out of sight. She had some thinking to do and she didn't want to be bothered. Looking up, she spotted the stairs that led to the second floor of the theater, and heading over, she took them, going to the balcony where she took a seat on the floor, staring out the windows at the sunset.

"I'm tired of this..." she whispered to herself, "Every time I feel something warm, something good, I always have to kill it and bury it before it goes too far- just so I won't get hurt when things go wrong. Where does this end? When there is nothing left of me?" She'd almost said too much to them- she wanted to share it with them, but if they knew what a screw up she was, they'd drop her like last week's garbage and find someone else to save the world. She wanted the chance to prove herself- to herself. She wanted the chance to prove wrong everyone who'd ever told her she'd never be anything but a nuisance and moron and screw up. Like Gary.

Falling silent, she stared at the sunset between the buildings outside. More like she was burning the image of the sun on her retina while lost in thought.

Sora... Sora sounded so familiar, yet she couldn't remember who the name really belonged to. A hand lifted and fished her pendant from her collar and she clutched the warm sparkling crystal in her palm as she thought.

_'It's a question of "Who Am I", I think... Not just a name. Beyond a name. What makes a person anyway? Body, Soul, and Heart- or that's the local theory. Maybe they're right. But what's happened to my heart that I feel so... un-alive?'_

_'You buried it,'_ her Negative Voice answered. _'Which gave rise to me.'_

_'You... You are?'_

For a long moment, her Negative Voice didn't answer. However, when it did, it sounded meek, _'You never named me. Even though I've looked out for you- taken on your pain and hidden it from you so you could survive.'_

It was her time to be silent, and she stared at the sunset and pondered. Well, if she was the source of this second voice in her head, why not give it a name? After all, there was no point in making her psychosis suffer as a nameless entity the way she was. "Umi," she said finally.

_'Umi?'_ her Negative Voice whispered, then brightened, _'I like it. Thank you... You know. I love you. Not just because you gave birth to me, but because you're you. I want to protect you- I hate seeing you hurt. I just want you to know that... that I'd give up my own life to make you whole again.'_

"Is this what's left of me?" she asked Umi. The smaller of two pieces in a shell shaped like someone else?

Her other could only reply, _'Yes. I'm sorry, even if it's not my fault.'_ Umi paused again, then added, _'I know a way to make you whole... But admittedly, it does mean the death of me- but you would be safe. YOU would be whole.'_

"What do I have to do?" she asked.

_'First... figure out your own name. You're not Sora, you have your own name. Second... Second, you'll have to find Sora. Sora's the one who can make you whole. He's the only one. Donald and Goofy... okay, so I was wrong about them when we first met them. They wouldn't intentionally hurt you, but they can't help you in this.'_

"I'd have to admit to them," she whispered as the thought dawned on her, "If I'm not Sora and I've been agreeing that I was- that's the same as lying, isn't it? Even if I didn't know who I really was? Still don't, but..."

Umi snorted, _'You took the easy way out.'_

"You're cruel," she grumped.

_'Love has to be tough sometimes. Besides, it was only the truth. You knew, from the beginning that you weren't Sora. Sora is male. You aren't. I'd think that if you WERE Sora and these people who knew Sora were such close friends you would have told them you weren't a boy.'_

She snorted, "Makes me wonder _how_ close of friends they were if they didn't even notice _that_."

_'They've not seen him in a year, or more. Goofy noticed SOMETHING different. He'd said you'd grown,'_ Umi pointed out.

"What about Sora?" she whispered, hunching her shoulders, "I'd have to tell Sora I stole his name."

_'It's something you'll just have to deal with when you get there,'_ Umi replied with a feeling like a shrug. _'I somehow doubt that he'd care that much.'_

Frowning, she dropped her shoulders and took a breath, "What do you know?"

Umi answered immediately, _'No more than you do. You should listen to what's left of your heart more often, girl. Quit stalling and get to figuring out your name. You've got the means to do it.'_

"I guess... it is the first step on the road to shedding lies..." she admitted. But how to figure out her real name? What did she have on her person that would have that kind of information? She'd not gotten a driver's permit, or her license yet, you had to live in one place for more than a year and have foster parents willing to go through the effort. The only other ID she had on her was her school ID... Pressing her lips together, she reached for her side-pack at her thigh, opened it without looking down at it, and shuffled inside, finally pulling out her wallet.

Her heart thumped harder. This was the moment of truth- well, _a_ moment of truth that would likely be the first in this very long series that would absolve her of her Sins of Omission. Hoping that it would lead her to some new state of being where pain was a bearable thing and one could learn from it and move on was a silly thing to wish for. If she had her wish, she'd live in a land she'd visited in her dreams- an island in a sea of ice where her only companions were the ghosts of memories that walked the graveyard on the beach of snow. If she could find such a place, she would call that land her Sanctuary and dwell there forever, untouched by the warmth of others, since warmth only made her want to melt her heart and accept them, though she knew that accepting them caused pain.

"I guess it was lying," she sighed to herself as she searched through her wallet for her school ID. "Even if I didn't know what else to call myself, it is lying to just not say anything when people are wrong. Why does that hurt so much to admit, Umi? I shouldn't care. No one else cares when they hurt me. Like Gary. He just laughs."

Finding her ID, she swallowed, fingers taking a shaky hold on the plastic card. "Can't I go back?" she whispered, "Do I have to face this?" Umi didn't have to tell her that the answer was _Yes, you must go on_.

Licking her lips, she swallowed again and forced herself to breathe. Air was good. The card slipped free of its pocket. There was only the magnetic strip to run through the credit slot in the lunch line on the back, which was turned towards her. Shivering, she closed her eyes and turned it over. All she could see was the bright spot of the sun on the backs of her eyelids.

The light hurt to look at.

Tears leaking free from her hold, she gave up and opened her eyes, knowing the truth.

Her picture- the sharpie marker hadn't been as permanent as the label had said, her picture was slightly smudged with black but her face stared back at her, wide blinded eyes, pinned on smile. It was ghastly.

Beneath that...

_Kaiyou Smith_

"Kaiyou... Not Sora," she whispered.

It was half the only name she could remember when they'd asked her and half a fabrication by the System that needed a last name to make her its prisoner. More tears glided down her cheeks, collecting on her chin and dripping from the point, her hair shading her eyes from sight. She was glad that no one was there to see her. They'd have laughed at her.

Folding her legs against her chest, she wrapped her arms around her knees and put her face against her pants, sniffling as quietly as she could.

* * *

Life had been so much simpler a half hour ago, Kaiyou observed. Deloris had entered just a few minutes ago and gone into the theater, likely to talk to Eddie, and she figured she should go down there and find out what the game-plan would be.

_'Even if I'm not Sora, I started a job and I can't just leave it unfinished,'_ she told herself. _'I'll tell Goofy and Donald when we get a moment alone.'_

She told herself that, even though she knew the first statement was just that speck of stubborn stupid hope that constantly pushed her to keep trying to make friends and keep promises. The second was just another procrastination tactic to keep from having to admit that she'd lied to everyone.

Taking a breath and her courage in hand, Kaiyou stood and headed back towards the stairs, stuffing her ID back into her wallet and the wallet into her side-pack. At the foot of the stairs, she paused in front of the mirror wall on the first floor to make sure there were no signs of her tears. She looked just as simplified and Bishonen as ever. Shaking her head, she turned, heading into the theater just as Deloris came out.

"Oh," the waitress said, "Here's your pay for earlier," she held out Donald's munny pouch and smiled slightly, "You did a good job on the kitchen."

Blushing, Kaiyou took the pouch and replied, "Thanks... sorry about the mess we left, though. And about not keeping Roger hidden. It's just- he was boosting sales..."

Deloris snorted and lifted a hand to pat the girl's head, "Don't worry about it. He probably wouldn't have stayed hidden for long anyway." With that, she moved on, heading out the front door and Kaiyou gazed down at the bag.

"Maybe I'm not such a screw up after all?" she whispered, then frowned at herself and muttered, disgustedly, "Getting my hopes up again. Won't I ever learn?"

Closing her eyes, she shook her head and stepped into the theater, putting the munny into her side-pack. Eddie muttered as he headed up the steps towards her, "I'm glad Teddy's not here to see me running away with my tail between my legs."

"You get used to it," Roger consoled.

On the movie screen the video projection changed from cartoons to a news reel. _"Hollywood, California: Cloverleaf Industries was on the move this week, acquiring two Hollywood institutions,"_ a male news reporter's voice-over narrated._ "The Pacific Red Car Trolley Line and the venerated Maroon Cartoon Studios. Here, R.K. Maroon is seen Clinching the deal with Cloverleaf's bankers and execs in one of the biggest real estate deals ever in California history. Three-and-a-half million munny for a laugh factory – and that's no joke."_

Eddie spun on his heels with the gasp of an epiphany and said, "That's the connection!" With that, he turned and herded the whole lot of them out of the theater.

Frowning, but walking with him to the car- a real car this time and not a Toon- Kaiyou asked, "Connection to what? I think we really need to trade information because there's some things going on that you don't know about that have an effect on the situation."

Looking down at her, Eddie gestured as he opened the door of the car, "Get in," he told her, though he looked peeved that he had to take them along as well.

Climbing in, she selected the back seat and looked around for a seatbelt, only to not find one. "Right..." she sighed, having visions of crashing through the windshield or something else unpleasant. Donald and Goofy packed in beside her and Roger took the front seat, leaving Eddie the driver. "Now," Eddie said as he started the engine. "What do you know that I don't?"

"I know about the Heartless. In this world they show up as Toons, but they're not from around here. They're the little black bug-things with the ... man, my kingdom for a paper," she searched through her side-packs but found none. "Anyway," she continued verbally, "the symbol they wear is sort of like heart crossed out. Razor's gang said they've been stealing stuff and causing other havoc."

Eddie turned in his seat to look behind him as he backed out of the parking space, "Stuff like what?"

Shrugging, Kaiyou replied, "Things like turpentine, alcohol, pipes."

Roger turned, clutching the headrest as he stood in his seat, "Turpentine's the main ingredient to Dip!" he gasped.

"Well, that would make sense then," Kaiyou replied, lifting a finger, "So you see, Eddie, your problem, the Toon's problem, and our problem are all one in the same, and likely, if you continue working on this case, you'll chase down something you can't handle. Which is why you need us."

Scowling at her, Eddie stated, "So the connection's there," he reluctantly admitted, "But it's tenuous. Why would these Heartless want to make Dip?"

"Becaushe they're heartlessh!" Donald supplied.

Eddie stared and finally turned to face forward and pulled out of the theater's small parking lot. "Right. Figures."

Kaiyou agreed, "Yes, they're called that for a _reason_. Anyway! I think that if we find out who the source of your trouble is, we'll find out the source of our trouble."

"Solving both problems at once," Eddie finished with a nod, "Life don't always work like that, though."

"No," Kaiyou agreed, "Usually it's got some hidden drive or crashed eighteen-wheeler to block the easy path, but for now, what we've got is good enough to go on. So what've you got?

Pausing as he concentrated on driving, Eddie finally said, "At first, I thought the mess with Acme was started by Maroon, but he's just a small player in the game too. The biggest player seems to be Cloverleaf Industries, who put in the highest bid for Toontown, since Acme's will can't be found. Cloverleaf also owns the Red Car Trolley as well as Maroon Cartoons now, but what the three things have in common is what I can't figure... I've got an idea to figure out who's at the bottom of this, but I'll have to go in alone."

"Very dangerous, Eddie," Kaiyou pointed out. "Normal weapons don't do a thing to Heartless. At least take Donald with you, he's small, you can hide him behind a curtain or something and he doesn't have to get in close to his target." Thankfully, Donald didn't object to this assignment.

Turning towards Eddie, Roger said, "But what about _me_ Eddie?"

"You're going to stay out of the way," Eddie replied firmly.

Kaiyou offered, "Goofy and I can sit on him and guard the getaway car. Backup is always good, right?"

"Kid," Eddie said, "Ya think like a mobster."

Blinking, she replied, "I'll take that as a compliment," considering _this_ town. After all they needed _someone_ to think of the darker angles of things.

* * *

_AN: If any paragraphs or sentences look odd, please tell me and they will be fixed ASAP._

_Next Chapter: Stuck with what she started, Kaiyou can only go on and hope for the best, and wonder why all her choices seem to be the lesser of two evils, and still wrong._


	13. Playing Hero

_Chapter 13_

_(Playing Hero)_

"I shure hope thish worksh," Donald fretted as they all piled out of Eddie's car once he'd parked it behind the building Maroon's office was located in. It was fully dark, around eleven with a full moon glowing in a half-cloudy sky. Kaiyou looked upwards as she stepped out of the car, trying to decide if it was going to rain or not. The building was about two stories tall, and whitewashed, Eddie had parked behind a dumpster, next to a set of stairs that led up to the second floor, a fire escape, perhaps?

Eddie snorted, "Why? You scared?"

"P-p-please!" Roger retorted, "Us? Scared?" flipping a yellow-gloved hand, he continued, "Don't be ridiculous!" Nibbling the ends of his fingers, Roger added, "But you told Maroon you had the will, and when he finds out you don't, he's gonna be mad! He might try to kill ya..."

Eyeing the Toons as they lined up beside his car, Eddie replied, "I can handle a Hollywood creampuff. You guys just cover my back," he eyed Donald, "And you stay out of sight."

"Right!" the duck agreed with a salute.

Turning away with Donald a step behind, Eddie added, "If there's any trouble, beep the horn twice."

Kaiyou nodded, but her eyes were already roving around the dark movie lot, lit only by a square of light from Maroon's opened office window. Shifting, she glanced over at Goofy and Roger, then slipped into the shadows, figuring it best if the other two remained standing in the light making obvious targets out of themselves. If anyone shot at them, she could sneak up behind the sniper. Or so she figured.

* * *

Creeping through the narrow hall, gun-arm leading, Eddie tried to keep his breathing quiet. However, the attempt was useless, since Toons had no clue on the meaning of Stealth. Donald padded along behind, sneaking comically by tippy-toeing on his webbed feet, and completely failing to be anything other than obvious. Thankfully, he was quiet, for that Eddie was glad.

Coming to the secret door into Maroon's cushy office, Eddie stopped and gestured for Donald to come closer and whispered, "This is the place. I'll leave the door cracked, you watch from behind it."

Nodding silently, Donald didn't speak- thank god for small blessings. Taking a moment to collect himself and put his gun away Eddie pushed the door open, stepping in silently and half closed the door behind him, "What's up Doc?" he said to the tubby man in a striped dress shirt and suspenders, none other than R.K. Maroon, who had his back to the secret door, standing at his desk.

Jumping, the movie producer spun around and snapped, "Valiant, what're you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?"

Snorting, Edie moved away from the door carefully, "You'd need a heart to have an attack," he pointed out as he got close enough to the window to peek out and spy Goofy and Roger standing near the car still, brightly visible in the square of light from the window. Sora, however was missing... no- there, crouched in the shadows like a Ninja, not even his eyes visible. A dangerous Toon, that one was- a Toon with the ability to actually hide and think in twisty ways. _'It's just a good thing he's on OUR side.'_ The office was cushy, alright, with a wet bar beneath the window, a desk a little distance from that, and shelves with trophies and movie posters of block-buster hits. A film-reel projector was set up in the middle of the room, facing towards a wall for reviewing important clips of films in production.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Maroon was saying, "You got the will?"

Turning back to business, Eddie reached into his coat and pulled out the corner of Roger's love letter, "Sure, I got the will." Stuffing the paper back into his coat before Maroon realized that the paper was scrawled all over with lipstick and instead said, "The question is, do you have the way? 'Cause I can tell you now, it ain't gonna come cheap." This was, of course, not something he'd discussed with Donald, but at least the Toon had the wits to remain silent.

Maroon smirked, "You've gotta lot of brass, comin' up here by yourself."

Blandly, Eddie remarked, "Who said I'm here by myself?"

Pulling a gun, Maroon aimed it at Eddie, who lifted his hands reluctantly. Carefully stepping forward, the movie producer reached into the detective's coat, yanking out Roger's love letter and flipped it out. "What kind of joke is this!" he demanded, "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways?"

Leaping into motion, Eddie grabbed the first thing that came handy- a seltzer bottle from the wet bar. Spraying Maroon in the eyes, Eddie followed the attack with a bash to the face with the metal container, knocking Maroon backwards. Stealing the gun, Eddie shoved Maroon back towards the film projector, grabbing the man's tie and stuffing it into the feeder slot before turning on the machine for a second, letting it wind Maroon in.

"Now," Eddie said menacingly, letting Maroon see the gun pointed at his face, "I'm gonna listen to you spin the Cloverleaf scenario. A story of greed, sex, and murder. And the parts I don't like, I'm gonna edit out." He ran the machine for a second, reeling Maroon in closer to it, then stepped back and picked up Roger's love letter, stuffing it into his pocket again. Maybe it wasn't a very good love letter, but Roger deserved the chance to fix his marriage, however he chose to do it.

Gasping, Maroon struggled in vain and gasped, "You got it all wrong! I'm a cartoon maker! Not a murderer!"

"Everybody's gotta have a hobby," Eddie replied blandly, shoving his gun against Maroon's cheek.

Clawing at the stand of the machine, Maroon wheezed, "Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! The truth is- I had the chance to sell my studio! But Cloverleaf wouldn't buy my property unless Acme sold em his! The stubborn fool wouldn't sell, so I was gonna blackmail him with the pictures of him an' the rabbit's wife! Blackmail! That's all! I been around Toons all my life, I didn't wanna see em destroyed!"

Leaning closer, Eddie asked, "Toons, destroyed? Why?"

"If I tell you," Maroon gasped, eyes wide and rolling as he tried to look at Eddie, "I'm a dead man."

Scowling, he replied, "You're dead if you don't tell me," turning on the machine again, Eddie let it suck Maroon even closer.

Flailing, Maroon squealed, "Unless Acme's will shows up by midnight tonight, Toontown's gonna be land for the Free-"

The first gunshot took Eddie by surprise, and he dived aside, rolling away as Maroon's back took another bullet before sagging forward over the machine he was tied to. Looking towards the window, Eddie called, "Donald, get in here!" as the gun poking through the window withdrew and Eddie rolled to his feet again.

Chaos broke loose in the office not a second later as fifteen black bubbles formed in the room and popped, dropping short black Toons wearing helmets with a symbol that was unmistakably the Heartless emblem on their chests. Dropping into a fighting crouch, Eddie drew his gun and aimed at one of the Heartless, hitting it in the forehead twice and merely making it stagger back a step for each bullet.

"Blizzard!" Donald shouted, flinging his spell through the door as he burst into the room, catching another Heartless and making it crash against the wall hard enough to break the shelves there and send the trophies crashing to the floor.

"We need to run," Eddie said, getting a moment to look out the window, just in time to see the voluptuous form of Jessica Rabbit trotting away and no sign of Roger, Goofy, or Sora. "We need to go _now_!" Eddie emphasized.

"Right!" Donald agreed and threw another few spells at the approaching heartless as he and Eddie beat a hasty retreat.

* * *

"Gawrsh," Goofy said, poking his lower lip with a finger, "This place sure is spooky at night, isn't it Roger?"

Roger balled his fists and lifted them in a mockery of a fighting stance, "Yeah! But we can take the spooks!"

Kaiyou followed the shadows to the corner of the building, peering off down the road towards a soundstage a short ways down. _'Umi, do they usually leave soundstages open at night?'_ she asked her other voice.

_'How would I know?'_ Umi replied sourly.

"Sora?" Goofy turned, looking around, "Sora?"

"Shh," she hissed from the shadows, "I'm here. Just keep your eyes peeled."

"Boy," Roger said, "I've sure gottem peeled- got my dukes up, and ears to the ground, ready for anythin'!"

Eyes narrowing, Kaiyou crouched down in the shadows, watching a clanking figure rattle its way across the lot, entering the soundstage. _'That's a Heartless!'_ she realized as the moon broke free of the clouds to glint off the Toon Heartless's helmet. Looking back at Goofy and Roger Kaiyou hesitated, _'...Can't pull everyone away from the car,'_ she decided, and like an alley cat, she scuttled across the street in a low run and merged with the shadows again.

_'Odd how I can sneak but no one else around her seems to be able to,'_ Kaiyou remarked to Umi as she crept along the side of the building.

_'You're Anime styled. You've gone Ninja,'_ Umi answered.

_'Sweet. I'm a NINJA now!'_

Behind her, she heard Goofy still talking quite loudly with Roger, and figuring that they were fine, Kaiyou headed onwards, scuttling across a gap between the soundstage she was currently hiding against and the one with the opened door- her destination.

"Leave me alone you creeps!" a female voice called from within the darkness.

Heart hammering in her chest, Kaiyou took her courage in hand before she could freeze up and dashed into the darkness, calling forth her Keyblade.

"_EEEEEEEK_!" the girl within shrieked at the top of her lungs and light flared in the soundstage, illuminating the scene within. Feeling as if something on herself had changed, Kaiyou looked down to find that she could once again see the weave of her shirt, the hair falling in her eyes actually had individual strands, and she had finger nails.

_'An FMV?'_ she had time to think before it dawned on her that she was supposed to be playing the important role of Hero, and leapt forward, landing between the slim brown haired girl in orange that was on the floor and the ten Heartless that had backed her into a corner. Taking a fighting stance, Kaiyou smirked. "Prepare to die," she said Dramatically and leapt forward, slashing with her blade at the first Heartless to step out of the line. The others weren't far behind.

Outside, she faintly heard Goofy shout, "Sora?" However, she was a bit too busy to answer.

Knocking the first Heartless aside, Kaiyou dodged aside from another's clawing attack then swung back in to land a back-handed swing of her blade on its head. The Heartless fell back into two of its fellows and she pursued it, stabbing it firmly and turning it to smoke. Not waiting for more than that, she twisted her blade and slashed to the left, finally taking out the first Heartless she'd attacked. Following that with a dive to her now cleared left side, she rolled to her feet, narrowly avoiding being attacked by the two on her left. The others quickly closed in around her, creating a stand-off briefly.

This time, Kaiyou made the first move, suddenly turning and hacking at the Heartless directly behind her. Stepping forward, she changed the direction of her sword's momentum and stabbed, killing another Heartless and creating a hole through which she dashed. Turning around, she faced the remaining seven and charged, selecting one for her next target. It blocked her first attack, but took the second and third, and she dived away with only a brief scratch from the Heartless that had closed in behind her while she'd been occupied. The other Heartless followed, dashing after her as she backed away, leading them in circles till she could pick one from the crowd.

Selecting her next victim, she leapt upwards and slashed down with enough force to kill the Heartless in one blow, but the attack cost her a moment when she landed and two jumped her, one's hit knocking her off balance, the second one latching onto her as she went down. Getting her feet up between herself and the Heartless, Kaiyou kicked it off and rolled to her feet again, chasing down the first of the two Heartless that had shown the capacity to work together. Catching it first with a downwards slash to the left, she followed that with a matching one to the right, matching the crossed heart pattern on its chest. It dissipated into smoke and Kaiyou turned to face the four remaining Heartless, sparing a glance to check on the Damsel in Distress. Apparently, she'd recovered slightly and was now propped up on her hands, watching the battle with wide brown eyes.

Kaiyou whirled her blade around, bringing it in line to block an attack from a Heartless that leapt forward to attack her. Breaking away from it by twisting herself aside, she pivoted on one foot, swinging her blade to connect with the back of its head, sending it sprawling. Stepping forward, Kaiyou continued using the momentum of her swing, catching two more on her blade and flinging them aside, and finally stabbed straight through the fourth as it ran towards her. It disappeared in a puff of black smoke while the other three stood and gathered together to rush her.

Gripping her Keyblade two-handed, she fell into a Samurai stance and stepped forward, slashing all three in a lightning-quick rush that left nothing but curling black smoke between her and the Damsel in Distress.

Slowly, she got to her feet and pushed her hair back from her large brown eyes, "I- thank you," she said in a cultured voice.

Seeing that she was still in FMV mode, Kaiyou lifted her chin with a Charming smile and flip of her blade in an End Battle Pose, "No problem," she answered. "But you should get out of here. This place is dangerous."

In the distance, gunfire resounded and echoed off the buildings. "Eddie!" Kaiyou gasped and started forward, then skidded to a stop as she realized a dark figure stood framed dramatically in the doorway, a long coat fluttering in the wind, one empty sleeve floating on the breeze against all laws of gravity.

The tall slender figure shifted his weight and slowly stepped forward, the toe of a black boot entering the light, leading up to a pair of loose black pants. Kaiyou slid back a step, Keyblade held low at her side, ready to leap forward and defend the helpless Damsel in Distress.

Kaiyou froze as the figure took another step forward, coming fully into the light, revealing a black tunic split on the sides emblazoned with the heartless symbol across his chest, a white belt hanging loosely around his narrow hips, and long ankle length white coat only worn on one arm while the other side was just pulled over his shoulder, the figure's bare arm hanging loose at his side. The coat was pinned in place by a short silver chain looping from one side of the collar across his chest to the other lapel. A pendant on the end depicted the Heartless symbol.

Now fully in the light, Kaiyou gasped as the familiar form of a tall and slender young man posed in a cocky stance with a tail of glossy black hair falling over his shoulder and hanging mid-way down his muscled chest. Angelically handsome and loving it, he flicked his angled blue-green eyes up just enough to let the fluorescent lights glimmer in their depths, past his dark lashes. Those eyes were set in a narrow face with a finely sculpted nose, cheekbones, and jaw line. He lifted a slender hand and flicked his short bangs back from his pale sloping forehead. "You're too late," he said in a smooth arrogant tone. "I figured you'd be unable to resist saving the girl. How like you to try and play the Hero. What a loser."

"Gary," Kaiyou hissed, "Get out of my way!" she shouted and leapt forward, swinging her Keyblade, Dramatically.

Lifting a hand, Gary swung it outward, a pulse of energy catching Kaiyou in the stomach and flinging her backwards through a pile of filming equipment. The Damsel in Distress dashed forward, throwing her arms out, "Leave him alone!" she ordered in a very Princessly tone.

Gary looked her over then laughed, "Him? You're a fool too," he laughed harder, an eerie sound that echoed in the soundstage. "That idiot will never be able to defeat me."

Dragging herself from beneath the equipment enough to stand up amidst the pile, Kaiyou leaned on her Keyblade and scowled past the new girl at Gary. "I will!" she snapped, "I'll be free of you!" She didn't dare add 'someday' because Gary would make it 'never'.

"You can try," Gary replied, "Oh, yes, that _would_ be amusing!" he tapped a finger to the side of his jaw and laughed again, "Yes. Very amusing," he looked over his shoulder, down the dark street, then turned back towards the two girls and said, "If you're really that interested in trying, then meet me at the Acme factory at eleven-thirty. I might even go easy on you- before I rip out your heart. I'll definitely let you witness the End of this World. Ta-ta." A dark portal sprang open behind him, and with his ankle-length white coat floating around him, Gary stepped back into the darkness, disappearing.

Coughing wetly, Kaiyou wiped her mouth with the back of her hand then frowned at the blood she found there. Silently, she cursed, _'One hit and I can barely stand!'_

Jogging over, the Damsel in Distress reached out a hand. "Here, let me help you," she said and Kaiyou accepted the offer, reaching out to her and allowing the girl to help her balance as she climbed over the last of the wreckage, then ended up leaning against the slightly shorter girl.

Flushing, Kaiyou tried to step back, but the girl held her in place. "Let me heal you," she said as a green lignt brushed warmly across Kaiyou's skin. She hung her head, not wanting to look the new girl in the eyes.

"Thanks," Kaiyou said softly and stepped away once she could, blushing bright pink across her cheeks and nose.

"I'm Dagger," the girl in orange introduced.

Pausing, Kaiyou shifted, then finally answered, "Everyone calls me Sora."

"But that's not your name," Dagger observed.

Looking away, Kaiyou instead said, "Look, I've got to go see if my friends are alright." She winced at herself for using that word, 'friends', since truthfully they were the real Sora's friends, not hers.

Dagger immediately smiled and said, "I'll come with you."

Taking a breath, then deciding to not even bother objecting, Kaiyou nodded and started off at a jog, heading towards the door of the building and out into the street, stopping as she heard the squealing tires and the bobbing tail lights of Eddie's car driving away. "Oh!" she stomped a foot, "I'd better go see what the damage is." Dashing down the street with Dagger jogging along behind in a very girly way, Kaiyou came to the stairs and dashed up them and stepping onto the railing, she caught the window sill and leaned in to peer. "Guy shot in the back, but not Eddie. Buggerit!" Dropping down, she turned towards Dagger who was standing at the foot of the stairs and said, "We need to scram. If we get caught, we might get Dipped without trial."

Hands going to her mouth, Dagger asked, "What's Dipped?"

"Dip. Nasty stuff that kills Toons where nothing else will," Kaiyou explained and leapt down to the ground, landing in a crouch beside Dagger, then stood. "This way," she said and turned, jogging down the road Eddie's car had taken, which lead to the front gate of the movie lot.

"We'll never catch up with that vehicle," Dagger called as she trotted along behind Kaiyou.

Looking back, she slowed her pace and let Dagger catch up, replying, "I think you're right." And even though she knew well enough how to hijack a car, she didn't see any cars around. "I don't know where they're going either."

"The Acme Factory?" Dagger supplied, blinking at Kaiyou.

Frowning as she thought on that, Kaiyou finally nodded, "That's bound to be a trap. Gary's cruel like that."

Shaking her head, sending her shoulder-length hacked-off hair swinging, Dagger asked, "Who _is_ Gary anyway?"

"He... and I were in the same foster home. He's been out to get me from the first day we met," Kaiyou admitted, "Odd how he can hold a baseless grudge for thirteen years, but that's Gary for you. As for now... I guess he's Heartless, considering that symbol that was on his shirt. Those other creatures that attacked you were Heartless as well," she added, then looked towards Dagger. "But whether it's a trap or not doesn't matter in the end," Kaiyou finished, "That's our next Plot Point, we may as well trigger it and see the movie."

Dagger looked completely confused by this terminology and Kaiyou snorted in dark amusement, "Sorry. What I meant was: the Factory is the only clue of where to go next, so we may as well go there and see what happens."

Nodding in understanding this time, Dagger replied, "Which way _is_ the Factory?"

Looking up and down the street, Kaiyou sighed, "Good question. I wonder if I've still got that map Roger gave me?" Shuffling in her side-packs, she finally laughed, "Ah-ha!" she pulled it out with a flourish and opened it. "Let's see... We're here... the factory is there... I guess it's a left from here."

* * *

"I can't believe you jusht let Shora wander off!" Donald shouted as he threw a temper tantrum, jumping up and down in the front passenger seat. Goofy cowered in the back, covering his eyes and unable to answer the duck, especially not in the mood he was currently in.

Eddie, however, had no qualms with grabbing Donald's neck and yanking him over, "Shudd-up! He said he didn't see where Sora went. I'm sure he's fine."

"And you left without looking for him!" Donald accused. "When there'sh Heartlessh looshe!"

"He said you three were the only ones who could handle the Heartless," Eddie snapped back, then yanked the wheel of the car around, releasing Donald in favor of driving, wildly chasing after Jessica Rabbit's car as she practically flew down the road, making tracks towards Toontown.

While Eddie hadn't quite believed the boy and his friends about the Heartless at first, he was now quite convinced that he was about useless against them. It wasn't a reassuring feeling, but he was willing to take what help he could get. He did regret leaving the boy behind, but Sora seemed capable of handling himself. He was likely the only Toon in existence that actually had any common sense. In a crazy world like this one, if all else ended, that boy would likely survive. Eddie had to believe that if nothing else.

Ahead loomed the tunnel that led to Toontown, and abruptly stomping on the breaks, he dumped the clutch and skidded to a stop. Donald, still standing in his seat, hit the windshield and flattened there, comically. Goofy just hit the back of Eddie's seat with a grunt.

"Why'd we stop, Eddie?" Goofy asked, watching as the human got out and popped the trunk.

Hands sweaty and shaking, the detective pulled a blanket off the wooden case of his Toon gun and stared at it for a moment before finally opening it and lifting out the hefty revolver. Opening the box containing the bullets, Eddie gazed at the sleeping Toons. In the car, he could hear Donald ragging out Goofy again.

"And why did you take your eyes off Roger!"

"I'm sorry, Donald! I was looking for Sora!"

Clearing his throat, Eddie said, "Hey guys, ready for some action?" he said, awakening the bullets that lay within.

"What in Sam Hill?" the first bullet asked, yawning.

The second spoke up, "Well, Eddie Valiant, aren't you a sight for sore eyes?"

The third added, "I ain't seen you to nigh onto five years!"

Again, the second spoke up, "Where ya been?"

"Drunk," Eddie reluctantly admitted. "You feelin' frisky tonight, fellas?"

As one, the bullets chorused, "Yeah!"

Nodding, Eddie held his gun out and said, "Let's go." Eagerly, the bullets dove into their chambers and Eddie slapped the cylinder closed and reached into his jacket to holster the gun, then paused, pulling out his bottle of whisky. Looking at it, he sighed and pulled the cork with his teeth, spit it out, and poured the remaining contents of the bottle on the ground before throwing it in the air, taking aim, and shooting the glass.

Turning, Eddie slammed the trunk closed and climbed into the driver's seat again. "If you two ladies are done with your catfight, we've got a job to do," he said and put the car in gear, staring ahead at the tunnel with a determined expression.

* * *

_AN: If any paragraphs or sentences look odd, please tell me and they will be fixed ASAP._

_Next Chapter: The ultimate question that the fate of the universe hinges on! Why does Gary sign his death threat letters XOXO?_


	14. Another Car Chase

_Chapter 14_

_(Another Car Chase)_

Sora wasn't quite sure how they'd gotten into this situation, but here they were - faced by five Weasels armed with human-made guns who were currently discussing their fate.

The one-sided conversation had started with a black paddy wagon, marked 'Toon Patrol' on the side, swerving from across the street over to where Sora and his group were walking on the sidewalk. The wagon had nearly hit four human pedestrians before screeching to a halt. Five weasels had then tumbled out of the car, the one in pink shouting, "Grab some sky, wise guy!"

Blinking, Sora had lifted his hands and started to ask, "Uh, have you seen-"

He shared a bewildered look with Laguna as the weasel in pink jumped forward, "I ain't said you could talk!" it snapped, shoving the gun against Sora's nose.

One of the other weasels, a greasy looking one, said, "So what're we gonna do with em?"

"The Boss said he wanted the Rabbit, but this one was with em," the weasel in pink snarled, "We'll take em to the Boss... for questionin'."

"Nah, let's Dip em!" shouted the smoker weasel eagerly.

Sora shifted, "I'm not the one you're looking for!" he blurted, finally dropping his hands. This confused the weasels, for they stared at him, so he continued, "The one you're looking for is my Imposter. I'm trying to find him too..."

The weasel in pink jabbed the gun against Sora's nose again, "Shaddap! You think we're that stupid?" The weasel with the propeller beanie began laughing.

Spinning around, the weasel in pink bashed the butt of his gun against the laughing weasel's head, "Shaddap Stupid! You know what happens when you laugh too much!"

Stuffing his fists in his mouth, Stupid snorted a few times, leaving the weasel in pink to turn back to Sora, only to find empty outlines where they _should_ have been. Spinning around, he pointed, "After em!"

Gasping for air and pumping his legs harder, Sora ran, Laguna and Khimari right along beside him.

"Ah- Sora, question!" Laguna shouted after briefly glancing back over his shoulder. Behind them, gunshots went off and the sound of screeching tires echoed off the buildings. "How're we going to outrun a car?"

Obligated to look back, Sora yelped and tried to put on more speed, only to trip head-first over a curb, land on his face and skid a few feet. "Ouch!" he whined as he sat up, Khimari and Laguna pulled to a stop beside him and turned, settling into fighting stances.

Tires squealing, another car swerved over and a dark haired woman shoved open the passenger door, "Sora! Get in!" she shouted, then looked back towards the Toon Patrol car barreling down on them, wildly swerving between cars. Leaping to his feet, Sora dived in, Laguna and Khimari piling in afterwards as the woman stomped the gas even before Laguna had pulled the door closed.

"Woo!" Sora sighed, "Thanks, lady!" he said as he looked back at the Toon Patrol, "Were those the Weasels we were warned about?"

"Probably," Laguna said, "Question is... who's this lovely lady?" he turned around, leaning forward to leer at the woman, making flowers bloom around him as he smiled at her.

"Oh, stop that!" she reached over and shoved Laguna back into the back seat, "I'm already in enough trouble as it is! Sora, what're you doing out here? I thought you were with Eddie and Roger!"

Pushing past Laguna, Sora climbed into the front seat and dropped down, "That's Aros with them," Sora stated, "Aros is my imposter and I'm trying to find him. I'm the real Sora, nice to meet you," he smiled and she spared a second to glance over at him, blinking.

Immediately, the woman turned back to concentrating on driving, but did admit, "Huh. From afar, you two do look exactly the same."

"Yeah, Aros is shorter than me though," Sora admitted.

"I'm Deloris," the woman introduced, "I guess the weasels mistook you for Aros too."

Nodding, Sora glanced back, finding Laguna and Khimari scrunched in the back seat. Khimari stoic as ever, even if he was hunched down and curled up in what had to be a very uncomfortable position. Laguna was staring out the back window. "Anyway," Sora said, "Do you know where Aros went?"

"To the Maroon movie lot, with Eddie," Deloris replied, "They were trying to find out who killed Acme... Why is Aros claiming he's you?"

Shrugging, Sora could only answer, "Uh, orders? Jealousy? Confusion? I don't know. That's why I need to find him- so I can find out. If he's just confused, well, we could straighten things out between us, but if he's working for Maleficent or the Organization..."

Deloris shook her head, "I don't believe that," she insisted, "He's a nice boy."

Sora pursed his lips as he thought on that, then smiled, "If you think so. My other friends who've met him thought he was nice too, so I'll see how we can work things out."

Nodding this time, Deloris took another turn, concentrating on losing the Toon Patrol, which was getting caught in the accidents Deloris's driving was causing.

* * *

It was fairly late by the time Deloris shook the Toon Patrol and got them to Maroon's movie lot. Sora frowned slightly as he climbed out of her car once she'd parked and looked around. "Huh..."

"What is it?" Laguna asked as he climbed out, followed by Khimari. Deloris climbed out through her door and headed over to a set of stairs that led up to the second story of the building she'd parked behind. There was a single light on- the only light on in the place, and the window looking into that office was within reach of the top of the stairs.

Lifting a hand, Sora placed it on his heart and said, "She's here... Well, not _here_ exactly, but close." Turning to smile at Laguna, he finished, "I'll finally catch up to her!"

Lifting a fist in Victory, Laguna grinned too, "Yeah!"

"Oh my God!" Deloris gasped and staggered back, turning to look at Sora and the group, "Someone killed Maroon!"

Called back to the current business, Sora bounded up the stairs and leaned over the stucco rail to look through the window of the lit office. A body, shot in the back twice, hung limply from his necktie at a moviola. "I guess he wasn't a Heartless then, just... heartless," Sora shook his head, "Any idea where they would have gone from here?" he asked Deloris. Pale, she could only shake her head no.

Taking her hand, Sora guided her down the steps, "Then let's get in the car and let the police take care of the body in the morning. We've got to find out who really killed Acme and find his will," _'among other things_.

"What makes you think I'll just let you leave?"

Coming to a stop, Sora gazed around, then finally looked upwards, spotting a figure in a long white coat standing on the roof, silhouetted by the full moon behind him. A dramatic breeze blew his coat, trailing sleeve, and tail of long hair, but his face remained in shadow. "Who are you?" Sora shouted.

The man laughed. "Someone who finds you amusing," the man replied and lifted a hand, light sparkling off something between his fingers, Sora dodging instinctively as the stranger's arm flicked downwards. A short knife blade lodged into the top of the car behind Sora, and when he looked back at the roof, the man was gone.

Stepping over, Laguna pulled the knife free and turned it, "There's a note tied onto the handle," he observed and carefully untied the string holding it on. Reading out loud, Laguna said, "Come to the factory at midnight for a big surprise. I hope you like my little distraction, too. Love, Gary."

The pavement cracked and vibrated as the sharp point of a claw hit the ground nearby. Gasping, Sora turned to look up at the twenty-foot tall spider-like monster that now loomed over them, halfway crouched on the building Maroon's office was in. Blazoned on its chest was a black heart, crossed out, marking it unmistakably as a Heartless. Turning, Sora yanked open the driver's side door and shoved Deloris in, "Get out of here and come back in ten minutes!" he ordered. With little choice, Deloris started the car and backed out as Sora called his Keyblade.

Leaping ahead, Khimari roared and braced his spear as he launched high into the air, aiming for the Heartless's head. The sound of Khimari's spear connecting with the creature's exoskeleton cracked loudly in the night, followed by the clang of Sora's Keyblade striking the Heartless's underbelly.

"Blizzard!" Laguna shouted, barely missing hitting Khimari as the Rhonso leapt away. The spell struck the place Khimari had hit, making the Heartless reel back, waving its front pair of legs. Leaping out of the way, Sora dodged a downward stab from the Heartless as it landed on the ground again, then sprang in again, ricocheting off the wall of a building to follow up on the weak spot Khimari and Laguna had created.

His strike missed as the Heartless reared back again, catching Sora across the stomach with one of its front legs, sending him flying to crash into a dumpster down the street. Khimari, taking advantage of the monster's distraction, dashed in underneath it once more to stab upwards into the segment joint of one of the stationary back legs.

Letting out a shriek, the monster flailed and lifted the wounded leg off the ground, balancing on the remaining seven. Climbing out of the garbage, Sora shook a banana peel off his head and dashed in again heading for the next leg that was on the ground, having been inspired by Khimari's success. Sliding in under the creature, Sora swung his Keyblade in an overhead bash, then followed that with a swing from the other direction, cracking the exoskeleton fracture by fracture.

"Thunder!" Laguna shouted, flinging another spell at the Heartless's head, actually hitting his target again, possibly only because Khimari was up there stabbing at the creature's skull with his spear.

Shrieking again, the Heartless suddenly leapt upwards, shaking Khimari off. Landing on his feet, the Rhonso was on the move again, catching Sora up with one arm as he went past. The Heartless landed with a resounding crash that made part of Maroon's office building collapse. One of the Heartless's feet landed where Sora had been standing seconds before.

Releasing Sora, Khimari turned and dashed off, leaping up to the roof of the building next door to Maroon's office, taking the distance in two bounds. "Blizzard!" Laguna cast again from wherever he'd taken up a post, this time, his attack was off and struck a power pole, sending blue sparks into the air as the line broke and fell to the ground, hitting the garbage bin and setting the trash on fire. Diving into action again, Sora ran in, slashing at a new leg, since the leg he'd been working on was now braced up on the building Khimari had leapt onto. Bashing at his target, Sora finally heard a resounding crack from two sources and the Heartless shrieked, leaping up with three of its eight legs destroyed.

Crashing to the ground again, the Heartless just missed catching Sora beneath it. Maroon's office building collapsed further, unable to take the strain as the Heartless moved to perch on top of it, using its front two legs to stab at the pests that were attacking it. With little time to do more, Sora dodged and rolled as the Heartless left large broken holes in the pavement behind the young man's retreat. Shrieking, the Heartless tried attacking with its other leg, chasing Sora the other direction.

"Thunder!" Laguna tried again, this time, hitting the Heartless spider's head- again, probably because Khimari was up there, stabbing at it.

Shaking Khimari off, the Heartless turned its body and spat webbing after the flying Rhonso, catching Khimari against a wall in a wad of sticky mess. "Khimari!" Sora shouted, aghast that his most useful ally was now out of the battle.

Running forward, Sora dashed up the collapsing side of Maroon's office, dodging the Heartless's front legs, and leapt upwards to attack the creature's head, making the crack in its exoskeleton wider. Flinging a leg up, the spider caught Sora across the chest and slung him to the other side of the street. The following wad of webbing missed, though, and Sora rolled away.

"Blizzard!" the strike hit the building under the spider, hard enough to shift the collapsing rubble and the Heartless was forced to abandon its perch, coming back down into the street again.

On his feet again, Sora came running in, slashing at the Heartless's legs. One hit- then two, and the crack of exoskeleton and following shriek announced the defeat of yet another leg. The Heartless was down to four, leaving it wobbling since it was using its front two to attack. It only had one left on the right side to support it and two on the left. Catching Sora with a sweep from its front leg, the spider hurled him down the street.

Landing hard, he kept rolling, narrowly avoiding being cemented to the asphalt by the webbing. He wasn't clear yet, however, as another shot of webbing came sailing towards him, and Sora rolled to dodge that, then changed his course to run towards his enemy, diving beneath the attacks.

With a roar, the Rhonso finally tore free of the wall and landed hard on the ground below. Getting to his feet, Khimari shook off pain and came in hard, slamming his spear into the remaining leg on the right side.

Flailing and shrieking, the spider collapsed, the remaining legs all becoming weapons. "Blizzard!" Laguna shouted, hitting one of the legs as it came in to protect the Heartless's vulnerable head. The leg snapped and curled up like the other useless appendages, leaving four.

Dodging the creature's flailing, Sora leapt onto the spider's abdomen and dashed up along its thorax towards the head. Desperately, the Heartless tried to get its remaining legs under it to roll, but Khimari was below, stabbing with his spear and preventing the Heartless from getting purchase on the asphalt.

Lifting his sword high, Sora swung it downwards in as hard a hit as he could, turning the prongs of his Keyblade downwards to hook into the crack of the Heartless's exoskeleton. With a resounding snap and shriek, the Spider flailed in its death throes, dislodging Sora.

Falling to the ground, the young man rolled away and fetched up against the side of a building, watching as the remaining legs curled inwards and the spider's form began drifting away into black smoke. Stepping out once the spider was completely gone, Sora stepped over to join a limping Khimari. Stopping, Sora frowned as he looked down and crouched to pick up a slip of paper. "Delete N after C," he read out loud. "Is this from Gary too?" he mused.

A flash of light caught his attention, and Sora stuffed the paper into his side-pouch for safe keeping as he turned towards the wreckage of Maroon's office building. Light flared even more brightly as the Keyhole to the path of Darkness appeared. Knowing his job, Sora turned and flipped his Keyblade, pointing the end towards the Keyhole. A flash of light later, and the lock snapped closed. "One job down, now to find the Keyhole to Light so we can get out of here..."

The sound of screeching tires interrupted his thoughts and Sora turned to look as Deloris came rolling up. Putting her head out the window she called, "Hurry! The cops are coming! If they catch us here, they'll think we did this!"

Nodding, Sora turned and took Khimari's arm, helping him to the car and in. Laguna dived in beside the Rhonso in the back seat, and Sora again took the front. "Let's head to the factory. We've got fifteen minutes till midnight!"

Deloris threw the car into reverse and spun them around, squealing her tires to get out of the movie lot before the police arrived.

* * *

_AN: If any paragraphs or sentences look odd, please tell me and they will be fixed ASAP._

_Next Chapter: In a land where Laughs are King and Chaos and Confusion are his twin sons, no wonder it's hard to get anything constructive done!_


	15. Hunting Wabbits

_Chapter 15_

_(Hunting Wabbits)_

Tires screaming as they came around the bend in the road, Eddie desperately turned the wheel to compensate, ended up over-compensating, and hit a Toon fire hydrant, making it spray water upwards in an arc behind them. Ahead- somewhere- was Jessica's car.

In the back seat, Donald and Goofy were flung from one side of the car to the other as Eddie tried to avoid as many obstacles as he could. Toontown was hazardous on any day, but especially hazardous when conducting a car chase, since anything that _could _happen inevitably _would_. Swinging left around another corner, Eddie punched the gas, then changed his mind and instead slammed on the breaks as he suddenly realized that the car he was chasing was stationary- crashed into the back of a Toon dump truck.

The impact sent Donald flying forward to flatten against the windshield and Goofy just crashed against the back of the front passenger seat. "Gawrsh!" he gasped, "It's Jessica's car!"

Throwing open his door, Eddie looked around, finding that Jessica was not in her car. "Figures," he grunted, then turned, looking around as Donald and Goofy climbed out, Donald's steps weaving as stars and swirls circled his head.

Looking up, Eddie narrowed his eyes, spotting a voluptuous silhouette in the window of the building next to them. "This way," Eddie said and ran for the front doors of the building. Looking back when he realized that Donald and Goofy had not followed him, Eddie sighed, shook his head, and just went on. If they couldn't keep up, oh well.

Hitting the call button for the elevator, Eddie stepped in once it arrived, and crashed to the floor, which was more than a foot lower than the floor level. The elevator dog said morosely, "Watch your step, sir."

Throwing the lever, the dog closed the door and the elevator started with enough force to slam Eddie to the ground again. Just as abruptly as it started, the elevator stopped, slamming Eddie into the ceiling. After he crashed down, the elevator dog said morosely, "Your floor, sir."

Climbing out, Eddie staggered to his feet and adjusted his hat. The elevator dog said, "Have a nice day, sir." The door slammed shut and the elevator dropped out of sight. Shaking his head, Eddie headed onwards in his quest.

* * *

"Gawrsh, Donald, are you alright?" Goofy said as the stars cleared from around the duck's head.

Shaking himself, Donald looked around, "Where'd Eddie go?" he demanded to know.

"Thattaway," Goofy pointed, then paused, "But Donald. I think I just saw Roger going thattaway," he pointed the opposite direction.

"Roger?" Donald gasped, the last of his confusion and concussion disappearing. Leaping off the ground a few feet, Donald flung a finger in the direction Goofy had last pointed, "Thattaway then!" Donald announced. "Roger could get into trouble!"

Nodding, Goofy dashed after Donald as they took up the chase.

* * *

Taking a breath, Eddie kicked open the door, "Alright Jess-" he started, but the Toon woman turned around to reveal a face that was definitely _not_ Jessica's.

"A _MAN_!" the hideous creature shrieked and ran towards him.

Realizing his mistake immediately, Eddie slammed the door shut and backed away as the Toon woman's lips pierced through the door, trying to reach him still. Turning, the detective ran down the hall, looking for a place to hide. Throwing the door to the men's bathroom open, he stepped in and slammed the door shut behind him, noticing the sign taped to the back.

_'Out of Order'_

A breeze ruffled Eddie's hat and he blinked, looking down in horror. "AHHHH!" clawing at the air, he tried to find something to catch hold of, but his attempts were of no use. Screaming and plummeting, Eddie looked down, just in time to spot a flag pole. Catching it one-handed, Eddie panted for air.

"Well!" Tweety said cheerfully, "I tink I see some little piddies!"

Pitter-pattering over, the tiny yellow bird stopped at Eddie's hand and grabbed the first finger. "This little piddie went to the market," he said.

"No, Tweety..." Eddie begged.

"This little piddie stayed home..." Eddie winced as his finger was plucked off the flagpole. "This little Piddie had roast beef..." Hanging by his pinkie, Eddie scrunched his eyes closed as Tweety finished, "And this little piddie had none- oops... all out of piddies."

Resuming his downward course, Eddie tried flapping his arms. It was worth a try, after all he _was_ in Toontown. Clouds went past at an alarming speed anyway.

"Nyahh. What's up, Doc?"

Turning, the detective looked over, "Bugs!" he gasped.

"Oh, shkydiving without a parachute? That can get ya killed," observed Bugs's companion and Eddie turned to look at Daffy.

"Either of you got a spare?" Eddie asked desperately.

"Ehhh..." Daffy hesitated, "Bugsh doesh. But I don't think you want it."

Turning towards Bugs again, Eddie held out his hands pleadingly, "I do! I do! Give it to me!"

"Nyahh. Okay!" Bugs agreed, handing over the pack labeled Spare, then pulled the cord on his parachute. Daffy followed a second after and Eddie continued plummeting. Yanking the cord on the pack Bugs had given him, he gasped, "Oh no!" as the Acme spare tire inflated. Tossing it aside, Eddie held onto his hat as the ground came closer.

"My _MAN!_" shrieked the hideous Toon woman, catching Eddie just before he hit the ground and kissed him.

Pushing her away, Eddie fell to the ground, rolled to his feet and ran. "Come back to _LINA HYENA_!" the Toon woman shrieked as Eddie thought fast, finally diving to the white line in the middle of the road. Picking it up, Eddie tore it and hauled the strip over, turning it towards the wall. Predictably, Lina followed the line and slammed into the wall.

Sighing, Eddie shook his head, "Toons... Gets em every time." Turning, he frowned, spotting another voluptuous figure trotting off down the alley beside the building he stood next to. Drawing his gun, Eddie followed, stepping lightly over the Toon garbage that littered the dank and puddle-filled darkness. A shadow loomed on the wall as Eddie followed what he hoped was Jessica, he didn't think his patience would survive meeting another Lina Hyena.

Stopping at the intersection of the alley he was in and another alley, Eddie lowered his gun, turning to look to the left and right, then behind him again- just as Jessica stepped out of the shadows, aiming a gun at him, "Don't move!" she shouted, pulling the trigger.

The blast of her gunshot was followed by a curse and the clatter of a human-made gun. Turning, Eddie looked to his left, just in time to see the shadow Jessica had shot darting off. Aiming his own gun, Eddie fired two bullets.

Darting out, the Dum-Dums pulled to a stop at the corner and blinked, "Which way did he go?"

"Uh, that way!" the bullets abruptly turned the wrong direction and shot off again.

Sighing in disgust, Eddie threw his gun aside and pulled his human-made gun, turning towards Jessica with it. "Hands up," he told her as she sauntered towards him.

"I just saved your life and you still don't trust me," she sighed, throwing her hair over her shoulder.

Without taking his eyes off her, Eddie replied, "I don't trust anything."

Gesturing at the long-barreled gun that lay in a puddle nearby, Jessica asked, "Not even your own eyes? That's the gun that killed Maroon. And Doom pulled the trigger."

Brows shooting up, Eddie asked, "Doom?"

Nodding, Jessica turned to look back down the alley, "Yeah. I followed him to the studio, but I was too late to stop him." Finally nodding, Eddie jerked his head for Jessica to follow as he took off after Doom.

"That's right!" Doom shouted back at them, "You'll never stop me! You're dead! You're all dead!" Doom cackled. His laughter was cut off by the sound of banging car doors followed by the sound of screeching tires.

The sound was followed immediately by the sight of the Toon Patrol barreling down the alley, hitting piles of garbage and throwing it into the air. Turning, Eddie grabbed Jessica's arm and hauled her bodily down the alley, going back the way they'd come.

"Where's my car?" Eddie gasped, looking around. Jessica's car was still wrecked and unusable, the trunk popped open.

"Roger!" Jessica gasped, "He's gone!"

Looking at the woman, Eddie had to ask, "What happened to him?"

"I hit him on the head with a frying pan when Goofy was distracted and put him in my trunk. He must have taken your car."

"Or Goofy and Donald did," Eddie grouched, then jerked his thumb, "This way-"

Tires squealing, Benny came to a stop, "You called a cab?" he asked.

Surprised, but taking things in stride, Eddie hopped in and Jessica trotted around to the passenger side, "Allow me, Mademoiselle!" Benny purred, opening his door for her.

"We've got to get out of here," Eddie said, "Fast!"

"I'm right on it!" Benny agreed and spun out in a one-eighty, then took off, leaving the Toon Patrol far behind.

Jessica continued explaining as they flew through Toontown, "I think Doom is working with someone else too. I saw him talking to a Toon wearing a long white coat with black hair. Drawn in the same style as Sora."

"Sora? You met him?" Eddie asked, "When? He was with Deloris or me all day."

"The real Sora," Jessica clarified, "The one you met is named Aros."

Frustrated at Toon antics, Eddie could only say, "Bah!" Changing the topic, Eddie asked, "So how long you known it was Doom?" They shot into the Tunnel that lead back out to L.A. and Benny turned on his headlights, highlighting the wet pavement.

"Before Marvin Acme was killed, he confided in me that Doom wanted to get his hands on Toontown and he wouldn't stop at anything. I hadn't believed him then, Maroon seemed the bigger threat."

Sparing a second to glance at her, Eddie asked, "So he gave you the will for safe keeping?"

Jessica shook her head, running a hand through her flying hair, "That's what he told me, except when I opened the envelope, there was only a blank piece of paper inside."

"Hah, a joker to the end," Eddie grumped. "Seriously, what do you see in Roger?"

Looking at Eddie, Jessica briefly widened her eyes as they neared the end of the Tunnel. "He makes me laugh," she admitted.

Shouting, Benny suddenly slammed on the breaks as Doom, standing on the side of the road, kicked over his barrel of Dip. Skidding through the Dip-slick, Benny shouted, "I've been Dipped!" as he spun and hit a light post, throwing Jessica and Eddie from the car. Landing in a heap, Eddie started to push himself up as Doom paced over, looming menacingly.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. What an unfortunate accident," Doom intoned, "Nothing more dangerous than a slippery road... especially when driving in a maniacal Toon vehicle." Behind him, the Toon Patrol squealed to a stop just at the edge of the spreading pool of Dip, and the Weasels slammed open the doors. "I think..." Doom smirked coldly, "They'll enjoy attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Acme Factory. Tie them up," he ordered with a sharp gesture and turned away, coat flaring dramatically.

* * *

"_ROGER_! Wait up!" Donald squawked, flailing as he tried to catch up with the fleeing white rabbit.

Skidding to a stop in a straight stretch, Goofy called his shield and took aim, flinging his weapon end over end like a Frisbee. Turning, the rabbit shrieked, just before getting nailed in the head.

"Good shot, Goofy!" Donald applauded, then raced to the fallen rabbit. "Roger- You're not Roger!"

Dizzy, the rabbit sat up and sputtered, "No- I'm not but he'sh my _HERO_!" the Toon announced, batting feebly at the tiny blue birds circling his head.

"Awww!" Donald shouted, throwing a brief temper tantrum. "Goofy, let'sh get back to the car!"

Turning away from the confused rabbit, Goofy and Donald dashed back down the alley and skidded to a stop. "The car'sh gone!" Donald gasped.

"Oh, what do we _do_, Donald?"

"We find Eddie!" the duck decided quickly and they both turned, just as Eddie, hauling Jessica dashed out of the alley on the other side of the street, called Benny, and hopped in, taking off. "Aww! Where're they going?"

Squinting, Goofy put a hand above his eyes to peer, "Looks like they're heading out of Toontown. We'd better hurry!"

Nodding, Donald looked around, then pointed, "There!" he shouted, "That bike!"

"Gawrsh, the one attached to the ice cream stand?" Goofy asked, poking his lower lip. "I guess..." heading over to it, Goofy hopped into the seat, Donald latching onto his back. Leaning forward, Goofy started pedaling, making the bike's tires squeal before finally taking off, leaving a trail of smoke behind them.

"Mmmy ice creammm!" the cow tending the stand mooed in agony.

* * *

_AN: If any paragraphs or sentences look odd, please tell me and they will be fixed ASAP._

_Next Chapter: When the destination is the same, how can a meeting not happen? But how did it turn into a race? Can Kaiyou contrive to lose first place and win at the same time? Or is she doomed to take the lead and lose her chance?_


	16. Diving for Boobie Traps

_Chapter 16_

_(Diving for Boobie Traps)_

Jogging at a pace Dagger could keep up with, Kaiyou concentrated on breathing. She wasn't good at long distance running. Mostly it was sprints and staying ahead of her enemies that had kept her alive. Now, however... _'I'm running TOWARDS danger instead of away from it. What an odd effect Sora has had on me,'_ she mused. Umi, thankfully didn't comment, since Kaiyou's thought hadn't been directed towards her.

"Ah!" Dagger gasped, and pulling to a stop, Kaiyou looked back, finding that Dagger had tripped on something.

Heading back over, Kaiyou knelt, "Are you alright?" she asked, leaning in as Dagger lifted her eyes, their noses only a breath from touching. Flushing bright pink, Kaiyou sat back and scrubbed the back of her head. What was _with_ this scenario? _'Don't I have to actually be a BOY to have Bishonen moments with a cute girl?'_ she demanded of the universe.

Both Umi and the Universe declined to answer and instead, Kaiyou took Dagger's hands and stood, helping her to her feet. Staggering forward, Dagger landed against Kaiyou's chest, just as a car went flying past. Looking over, Kaiyou blinked, recognizing Deloris as the driver.

Her heart skipped a beat, eyes widening as her gaze met another pair of sky-blue eyes.

Sora's hair fluttered around his face as he leaned out the opened window. Kaiyou's fingers curled on Dagger's shoulders, terror, shame, and guilt warring within her. All she could do was stand there and stare at him as the car went past and screeched around a corner.

"Sora," Dagger said, "We should get going," blushing, she pushed away from Kaiyou and stepped past her, trying to keep her head down as she started jogging again.

Shaking, Kaiyou pushed her hand through her hair and started off again, moving even more reluctantly. _'Sora's here... The REAL Sora. I can just hand this over to him and he'll take care of it! He's going the right direction, after all. He'll probably meet up with Donald and Goofy and then they'll sort things out and realize that I'm a fake and then I won't have to tell them myself!'_

_'Coward,'_ Umi accused. _'This is your mess. You should at least have the decency to clean it up.'_

Pouting, Kaiyou retorted, _'You're such a meanie!'_

Umi declined to reply to that and instead left Kaiyou to put on some speed to catch up with Dagger. The sound of screeching tires made Kaiyou look back over her shoulder again, and though she recognized the driver of this vehicle, she was quite relieved. Stopping and waving both her arms above her head, she shouted, "Benny! Roger!"

Eddie's car- what was left of it- pulled to an abrupt halt and Kaiyou called, "Dagger, we got a ride!"

Turning, the girl in orange dashed over and climbed into the car with Kaiyou's help. While Eddie's car had originally been a hard-top, the roof was now folded back like a convertible, all the glass broken, the hood crumpled. Benny, oddly enough, was driving, his Toon tires gripping the steering wheel tightly, with Roger in the front passenger seat. "Boy!" Roger said, standing on his seat and looking back at them, "I'm glad to see you, Sora!" the rabbit grinned, "We're heading to the Factory! Benny said Doom's got Eddie and Jessica! I'm gonna go _save_ her and give her my _LOVE LETTER_!"

Blinking, Kaiyou leaned forward, grabbing Roger's neck, "What happened to Donald and Goofy!"

Looking confused, Roger shrugged, "I don't know, weren't they with you?"

Frustrated, Kaiyou released Roger and took a breath, struggling for patience.

* * *

"Stop the car!" Sora gasped.

"Sora! We've only got fifteen minutes and you want to take a pit stop?" Laguna demanded.

Frustrated, Sora fought the door handle and snapped, "I'll catch up!" and with that, he dived from the moving car, rolling down the street. Getting to his feet, he started running back the way he'd come- back towards where his heart was pulling him. The Girl, and Aros, together! What _luck_!

Reaching the corner Sora staggered to a stop just as a half-wrecked car full of Toons screeched and skidded around the corner. Turning, Sora gasped, intending to shout, his hand out. Aros turned after releasing the white rabbit in red overalls, and again, their eyes met.

Situations reversed.

"No!" Sora shouted as they sped onwards. At this rate, he'd never catch up to them!

Turning, he pelted off after the car, "Wait!" he howled, but it was little use.

"_SORA_!" two familiar voices shouted behind him, and Sora turned, just in time to dodge a speeding bike with a wrecked ice cream stand partially attached to the back. Goofy hit the breaks, skidding to a halt as Sora dashed up. "Sora! ...Gawrsh, when did you change your clothes?"

"And when did you get so tall?" Donald added.

Waving that away, Sora used his frustration to fuel his strength and ripped what remained of the ice cream cart off the back of the bike. Hopping onto the hitch on the back wheel the cart had been attached to, Sora said, "Never mind, Goofy, just peddle!"

"Where're we goin, Sora?" Goofy had to ask.

"To the factory! We've got to catch up to everyone!" Sora called and held on as Goofy started peddling again, leaving scorch marks on the asphalt behind them.

* * *

"Look, there's Deloris!" Benny shouted.

Leaning over the side, Roger and Kaiyou called in unison to the woman who'd pulled over on the side of the road and was standing outside of her car, "Hi Deloris!" they waved cheerfully.

As they went past, she and Roger shouted, "Bye Deloris!"

"_SORA_!" A brunet man with green eyes shouted, jumping up and down in a panic. Kaiyou blinked.

_'Oops, hadn't realized Sora had been with anyone else in the car...' _she mused to Umi and sat back again, turning a grin on Dagger. Her grin turned sour as she realized, _'Oh... buggerit. I just passed Sora, and the car he was in. Which means I'm in the lead again! Wahh! I wanted to dump this mess on HIM!'_

Umi sighed but didn't bother repeating herself. Kaiyou got the idea just from the sigh and rearranged her expression to something more serious before Dagger noticed the sourness of her smile. "We should make up our plan of attack now," Kaiyou said.

"I'm going in!" Roger insisted.

Kaiyou stared at him, "But... Roger. Can you fight?"

Reaching into his coveralls, he pulled out a gun and waved it, "I've got a gun!"

Yelping, Kaiyou grabbed Roger's waving hand and plucked the gun from him, "Right, right. You just keep that put away for now. Wouldn't want to lose it!"

"Right!" Roger agreed and stuffed the gun away again, just where wasn't clear though, since he didn't have pockets.

Benny stated, "I'm not getting involved in no fights! I've already been Dipped once!"

Nodding, Kaiyou replied, "That's fine." So she had an idiotic rabbit and a white mage as allies in what was looking to be a fight to save this world from Darkness. This wasn't looking too good. _'I'm going to SO totally screw this up. I'm going to be called "Kaiyou, the ANTI HERO!" where SHE goes, chaos and Darkness follow. If only I could be more like Sora! HE apparently does things right!'_ Stopping herself, Kaiyou clamped her hand around the crystal hanging at her neck, the memory of intense pain and loss nearly stealing her breath as she stared ahead.

Blinking as the car skidded to a stop, Benny said, "Pile out so I can get out of here!"

Immediately, Kaiyou leapt out, then reached up to catch Dagger as she jumped. Setting the girl on her feet, Kaiyou turned before seeing Dagger's blush. "We need to find a way in. Front door is out..."

Looking around, she blinked as Benny threw the car into reverse and turned around, squealing the tires as he took off, leaving the three in front of Acme's factory. Looking around, Kaiyou adjusted her numbers. _'Two... where's Roger?'_

Groaning, she heaved a sigh. "Oh heck, he's better off being a distraction anyway. Come on, Dagger, this way." She looked towards Dagger who spread her empty hands.

"I'm sorry, Sora," she said softly, "Gary took my weapon when he kidnapped me."

Holding back her exasperation, Kaiyou shook her head. "We'll make do with what we've got!" Taking hold of Dagger's hand, Kaiyou pulled her along, heading towards the wall that separated Toontown from the rest of L.A.

* * *

Looking around, Roger paused, as he pulled the gun back out. "Gee, I wonder where Sora went?" he mused, then shrugged, "Guess I can't wait on him forever!" Padding down the alley, the rabbit approached the factory's basement window and shoved his gun back into his coveralls before rattling the window, trying to raise it. "Well, wouldn'tcha know? Locked!" Resigned, Roger leaned against the window- then flailed as it tipped open, dumping him into the building- or more specifically, into the toilet beneath the window.

As per Toon rules, the toilet flushed, Roger wailing as he swirled around the bowl and was sucked down into the plumbing.

* * *

Smirking, Doom loomed over his captives, "With the help of the Heartless," the corrupt judge announced, "I've gained control of not only Cloverleaf industries, but L.A.'s public transportation system, Maroon's studio, and in ten minutes, I will own Toontown!" turning, Doom pointed the skull-capped end of his cane at Eddie's face, then leaned in to ask, "And do you know what I will do with my new purchases?"

Leaning back, Eddie gave Doom a black look, "No, what?" he asked, since he had no other choice. Best to get the obligatory monologue over with as quick as possible.

"I'm going to destroy Toontown and _pave_ it!" Bursting out laughing, Doom threw his arms into the air, then spun away, stalking a over to one of the large canvas covered hulking shapes. Pulling a rope, the canvas flew off, revealing a large machine, "And this is how I will destroy Toontown!" Doom finished, "I call it... the Dipmobile!"

"So that's what the Heartless were stealing things for," Eddie said, understanding dawning a little too late. "But why destroy Toontown?"

"For the Freeway!" Doom replied, "As owner of the Red Car, I will raise the prices and make it more economical for residents of L.A. to drive their own vehicles! Then, with Toontown out of the way, I will fund the construction of the Freeway- hundreds of miles of smooth pavement, stretching from here to Pasadena! Traffic Jams will be a thing of the past! And built alongside the Freeway will be hundreds of gas stations, cheap motels, and diners! All of which I will own."

Gesturing, Doom pointed towards his captives, "Search them for the will." Immediately, Smart Ass frisked Eddie down, pulling out Roger's love letter.

Greasy chuckled, "_I'll_ handle this one!" he said, heading over to Jessica and immediately stuffed his hand down her cleavage. The snap of metal jaws closing was immediately followed by Greasy's shriek as he danced around, a bear trap clamped firmly onto his hand.

Snorting, Eddie muttered, "Nice booby-trap." Jessica rolled her eyes.

A rumbling beneath the floor made them all pause, looking around for the source of the noise. Smart Ass looked down and shouted as the drainage grate under his feet shot upwards, carrying him into the air to land on the ton of bricks hung from one of the cranes on the rafters. Landing on his feet, Roger pulled his gun and shouted, "Alright, Weasels! Grab some sky, or I let the Judge have it! You heard me, I said drop it!"

Gasping, Jessica crooned, "Roger, Darling!"

Looking briefly towards Jessica, Roger replied, "Yes, it's me, my dearest! I'd love to embrace you, but first I have to satisfy my sense of moral outrage!"

Reaching out, Eddie snapped Roger's love letter from the air as it fluttered down, Smart Ass having released it during his short flight.

Wearing a cold expression, Doom intoned, "Put the gun down, you buck-toothed fool."

"Gimme another excuse, I'll pump ya fulla lead!" Roger retorted, waving the gun around. "You thought you could get away with it, didn't ya? Hah! We Toons may act idiotic, but we're not stupid! We demand justice! Why, the real meaning of the word probably hits you like a ton of bricks!"

Eddie winced and backed up a step as Smart Ass gleefully cut the rope and the ton of bricks overhead obligingly crashed to the floor, landing directly on top of Roger. Dashing forward, Jessica knelt as Roger pushed up out of the mess, "Roger, Roger! Say something!"

Deliriously, Roger pointed upwards as he replied, "Look... Stars! Ready when you are, Raoul!"

"Tie up the love-birds," Doom ordered, "Use the escape proof rope and hang them over there."

Coming forward, the Weasels hauled both the Toons away to where they were tied and attached to a chain hook. Doom smirked and flipped the switch on the winch, reeling the pair up to the height of fifteen feet, then stopped them. "Perfect. They'll be the first to die," he gloated.

"Oh Roger," Jessica sighed, "You were magnificent."

Perking his ears, Roger craned his neck to look back at her, "Was I really?"

"Better than Goofy."

"I got his autograph!" Roger announced.

Smiling, Jessica continued, "Roger, Darling, I want you to know that I love you. I've loved you more than any woman's ever loved a rabbit."

"Aww. P-p-please!"

Stalking away, Doom gloated as he picked his way over the unnoticed mess of marbles on the floor, "It's over, Valiant-" he started to say, but cut off as his feet slipped out from under him and he landed on his back, feet in the air.

Immediately, the Weasels broke out into hysterical laughing as Doom struggled to his feet, slipping on marbles at every step, one hand clutching his left eye, his tinted spectacles partially broken. "_STOP THAT LAUGHING!_" Doom roared, "One of these days you idiots are gonna laugh yourselves to death!"

Smart Ass spoke up, "Shall I repose of him right now, Boss?"

Huffing, Doom answered, "Dip the Toons, then kill him," he pointed at Eddie and started off again, slipping on marbles as he went.

Climbing the ladder, Wheezy hopped into the driver's seat of the Dipmobile and flipped switches, starting up the engine. Greasy climbed the ladder to the spray cannon and took careful aim.

Backing up away from Smart Ass's gun, Eddie reached for the first thing that came to hand and pulled the cover off the switchboard for a large Select-a-Tune machine. Looking at it, Eddie swallowed his pride- and selected a tune.

* * *

_AN: If any paragraphs or sentences look odd, please tell me and they will be fixed ASAP._

_Next Chapter: The Best Way to Die- if you had to choose._


	17. The Best Way to Die

_Chapter 17_

_(The Best Way to Die)_

While his choice had been random, Eddie figured it was just Fate laughing at him, the song that came up was none other than 'The Merry-go-Round Broke Down'. As the song started up, he inexpertly tap danced away from Smart Ass as he sang, "Roger is his name, Laughter is his game- Come on you dope, Untie his rope, And watch him go insane!"

Inspired, Eddie did a few back handsprings and upon landing on his feet again, slipped on a banana peel. The Weasels burst out laughing, falling all over themselves.

Looking back over her shoulder, Jessica had to as, "Has he lost his mind?"

Roger, chuckling, replied, "I don't think so!"

"This singin' ain't my line," Eddie continued as he selected three bombs to juggle, "It's tough to make a rhyme! If I get stuck, I'm out of luck..."

Jessica immediately called out, "And I'm running out of time!" to supply Eddie with the last line of the song. One by one, the bombs he'd thrown into the air clonked him on the head, and Eddie staggered backwards into another pile of boxes.

Giggling stupidly, the weasel with the beanie and nail filled club collapsed backwards, popping a lily from his chest.

"Eddie! Keep it up! You're killin em! You're slayin em! You're knockin' em dead!" Roger shouted encouragingly.

Leaping out of the boxes on a pogo stick, Eddie hit a lighting fixture, electrocuting himself briefly, and falling to the ground again with smoke in his hair, he got up to sing some more. Psycho cackled hysterically and toppled backwards down the ladder he'd been perched on, his soul floating away with little angle wings and a harp.

"I'm through with takin' falls- I'm bouncin' off the walls! Without that gun, I'd have some fun, I'd kick you in the..." Eddie paused.

Roger quickly supplied, "Nose!"

The music coming to a stop, Smart Ass looked up at Roger and said in confusion, "That don't rhyme with Walls!"

Hiking his pants, Eddie replied, "No, but this does!" and with a mighty swing of his leg, punted the Weasel in Pink into the air. His splash landing in the Dip was the last straw for Greasy and Wheezy who toppled over at their posts, one accidentally setting the Dipmobile into gear, and the other turning on the spray cannon.

"Eddie!" Roger shrieked and curled upwards, trying to avoid the arc of Dip.

Hurriedly, Eddie scrambled up the ladder, heading for the spray cannon, trying to switch it off. Looking around at the multitude of switches, levers, and gismos, Eddie grabbed and pulled at anything, finally getting the cannon to swivel to the left, hitting the far corner. But with the Dipmobile still in motion, this solution was only temporary.

Out of the darkness of the rafters, Doom swung downwards on a rope and landed both his feet squarely on Eddie's shoulder, knocking the human off the Dipmobile. Dropping to the floor, Doom grasped his cane in both hands, pulling the top free of the bottom casing, then brandished his swordstick at the human menacingly.

A second of silence fell, making a perfect backdrop to the crash of the window over the front door. Silently dropping to the floor, Kaiyou landed perfectly, her Keyblade drawn in her right hand, and left lightly touching the floor in her low, balanced stance. Lifting her head, she narrowed her stormy-blue eyes at Doom. "You die _Now_," she stated in a chilling voice, "Heartless."

Knowing where the greater threat lay, Doom turned away from Eddie as Kaiyou flowed into motion like water running downstream. Bent low, her blade out and behind, she leapt up and met Doom's first swing with a block of her own. Pushing off each other, they paused, holding a classic Samurai dueling pose, then came back in, Kaiyou wielding her Keyblade two handed, sweeping it upwards in a slash as Doom struck down.

Freed from Doom's full attention, Eddie climbed back up the ladder to the Dip cannon to try to turn it off.

Breaking away again, Kaiyou lightly stepped sideways as they circled, blades raised. "You can't defeat me," Doom stated, "I know your _weakness_!"

"If I kill you before you can reveal it, what's it matter?" Kaiyou snapped back, then leapt forward again, locking her blade with Doom's once more, finding the strength to shove him backwards a step at a time in her rage at his attempt to manipulate her. "You should know- I only get stronger when I'm mad, and boy, you've managed to tick me off!" Shoving hard, she knocked Doom backwards.

Staggering and regaining his balance, he was quick to block her next attack, locking blades again. This time, he shifted and stepped aside, making her stumble. Letting her go past him, Doom followed with a slash. Quickly as she could, Kaiyou dived down and rolled away, getting to her feet again, blade at the ready.

Lifting his left hand, Doom smirked coldly and snapped his fingers above his head.

Black bubbles formed throughout the room, then burst, dropping the tin man-heartless to the floor. Clanking they stood and straightened, lifting their clawed hands as they advanced towards her. "Now that's cheating!" Kaiyou accused and leapt at Doom, swinging her sword hard enough to knock his blade aside, then body-slammed him with her shoulder. He staggered back, but again, was quick to recover.

"Sora! Help!" Eddie shouted, kicking a heartless in the face as it climbed the ladder towards him. Another had climbed up the Dip cannon tower from the other side.

Furious, Kaiyou slashed at Doom again and dashed away, slapping aside the Heartless that got in her way to saving Eddie. "Do I have to do _all_ the work around here?" she complained, leaping upwards, and landing on top of the Dip cannon, making the spray arc upwards. Roger and Jessica screamed as drops splattered their direction. Shoving Eddie's head down, Kaiyou stepped over him and slashed at the Heartless, "Turn the darn thing off!" Kaiyou demanded.

"I'm _trying_!" Eddie shouted back, just as frustrated. Desperately, he pulled levers, pressed buttons and twisted knobs, but nothing seemed to work.

Leaping to their level from the floor, Doom slashed at the distracted pair with his sword. Twisting, Kaiyou blocked the attack, saving Eddie at the expense of her own skin. Doom's sword pierced her bare shoulder and twisting aside, she yanked the blade out, then back flipped off the cannon tower. Doom followed, since Eddie still wasn't much of a threat.

"Eddie!" Kaiyou shouted, "Dip the Heartless!"

Following instructions, Eddie grabbed the controls for the Dip cannon and aimed it downwards, swiveling to catch the swarming Heartless on the floor. Flailing, the Heartless began to melt, leaving puddles of black goopy paint all over the floor.

Landing on her feet, she skipped back as Doom landed exactly where she'd been standing seconds ago, point of his sword downwards to skewer her. Lifting her Keyblade, one handed, Kaiyou could barely feel the fingers of her left arm even if she could still move it. Blood ran down her pale flesh in artful trickles.

A Heartless succeeded in climbing the ladder, shoving at Eddie and knocking him backwards off the Dip cannon tower. Landing hard and rolling, Eddie got to his feet and grabbed the nearest weapon handy. Well, it wasn't really a weapon, but it was good enough. Aiming the mallet, he pulled the trigger, slamming the hidden fist inside it into a Heartless, knocking it backwards.

Laying about with the mallet, Eddie knocked two more Heartless into the line of Dip spray before having to resort to swinging the thing at them as they swarmed around him.

Diving past Doom, Kaiyou ran to his rescue, slashing Heartless with her Keyblade and sending them to misty oblivion. Doom sprang over, on springs- which were attached to the bottoms of his shoes- and landed, slashing at Eddie, who tried to block with his mallet. The Toon weapon was sliced in half easily and tossing it aside, Eddie grabbed the next thing handy- a large Acme magnet.

Aiming the magnet at Doom, he dueled against Doom's sword with the Toon electric bolts, then realized the folly of his weapon choice when Doom stopped fighting and let the Magnet pull him towards his enemy, sword aimed at Eddie's heart.

Turning the magnet around, Eddie grunted as he was yanked backwards and pinned to a large metal barrel. Struggling to free himself, Eddie looked around, spotting Kaiyou trying to cut down the number of Heartless in the room and occasionally hacking at the armored wheels of the Dipmobile. She was doing little damage on that score, but that job and the Heartless were keeping her sufficiently distracted.

Finally spotting a box of Black Spots on the floor next to him, Eddie struggled to kick it towards himself as Doom stalked away to find a more... amusing method to kill Eddie than just stabbing him. It wasn't long before he returned, riding on a steamroller. Desperately, Eddie struggled for the box, leaning forward as far as he could and stretching his fingers. Finally, he caught the edge of the box and pulled it over just as Doom aimed the steamroller at him and gleefully cackled at Eddie's helpless state.

Stretching the Black Spot over the middle of the magnet, Eddie sucked in his gut and slipped out through the hole he'd created and rolled aside as the steamroller ran into the barrel he'd been pinned against and crushed it. Grabbing up the next object that came to hand, Eddie turned, just as Doom threw a punch at him, slamming his fist through the can of Extra Sticky Acme Glue.

Backing away from Doom's sword-attack, Eddie found himself pinned against the still-rolling steamroller. Diving aside as Doom threw another punch with his sticky fist, Eddie scrambled away, turning to watch as Doom tried desperately to free himself, stepping on the can of glue by accident, then used that same foot to try and pry his fist off the front of the steamroller. Relentlessly, the steamroller rolled on and Doom shrieked, voice going higher pitched as more of him disappeared under the machine.

Turning away, Eddie left the machine to do it's job and ran through the gap in the Heartless Kaiyou had created, scrambling up the ladder to the tower again and took up his attempts to turn the machine off.

"Eddie!" Roger gasped, "Look!"

Spinning around, the human's jaw dropped as Doom's flattened two-dimensional figure slid to its feet and wobbled. "He's a Toon?" Eddie asked rhetorically as Doom staggered along.

"Surprised?" Doom squeaked as he stumbled, finally locating a canister of pressurized helium to blow himself up with. "You don't remember me, Eddie? I'm Heartbroken! It was back five years ago, when I dropped that piano on you and your brother!" Turning around Doom put his mouth to the canister of helium and began restoring his three-dimensional form, which in turn caused Doom's eyes to pop out, rolling across the floor

"Don't just _stand_ there, Eddie!" Kaiyou shouted at him, "Kill the cannon!" Dashing onwards, she spun in a fast slash that caught two Heartless across the faces and knocked them backwards, but the numbers just seemed to be multiplying, black bubbles opening on the edges of the room and more Heartless popping out to stampede her.

Turning around, Doom glared daggers at Eddie, "Remember, Eddie? I used to talk, Just. Like. This!" Pulling a glove off, Doom's hand turned to a mallet and he leapt upwards, heading for the defenseless detective.

Springing into action, Kaiyou leapt into his path, slashing at him with her Keyblade, effectively distracting Doom from his intended target. They landed and she rolled, coming to her feet again in a low street-fighting stance.

Stepping forward, Doom transformed his arm into a broad-sword and slashed at her from one direction, then changed and slashed again, backing Kaiyou up a step at a time as she tried to block his attacks with only one truly useable arm. Springing away, she landed behind the Dipmobile, which was still chugging forward unguided, heading straight towards Roger and Jessica. Heartless sprang at her and she twisted, throwing them off and sweeping them away with a swing of her blade, but that didn't kill them. They staggered to their feet again and ran towards her even as Doom made his next move.

Following her, Doom sprang forward with a full out lunge, and Kaiyou slapped his blade away, retreating another step- her foot landing in a trickle of Dip that was making it's way towards the drain in the center of the room. Gasping, she was unable to avoid the next slash across the chest that Doom landed on her.

Clutching her wounds, she staggered back, finally coming up against the Dipmobile.

"Sora! I can't turn it off!" Eddie shouted, kicking and banging the Dip cannon in desperation.

"_SORA_!" Roger and Jessica shrieked in unison, the nozzle of the Dip cannon spraying Dip only inches beneath them as they tried to curl away from it in their ropes.

"How pitiful," Doom taunted. "And Gary said you might actually be a challenge." Heartless closed in.

Lifting her head, she scowled at him, "I ..._Promised_ to help them!" she shouted then turned, slashing her Keyblade across the Dip tub, sending an arc of Dip washing across the floor, catching Doom and the remaining Heartless full on.

Shrieking and flailing, Doom staggered back, howling, "I'm _melting_! Whaaaaa! Whaaaaaaouu!" He burbled into silence with little left but a pile of gummy yellow paint-smeared clothes.

Breathing, Jessica and Roger relaxed as the arc from the Dip cannon narrowed and decreased to a trickle, Eddie turned and leapt off the Dipmobile, running to find the remote control for the winch his Toon friends were attacked to. "Eddie!" Jessica shouted, "There's Dip all over the floor!"

First moving the captives out of the path of the Dipmobile, Eddie turned and found the pressure valve for the fire hydrants ranged along the side of the room. Looking around, he spotted Kaiyou, clinging one-handed to the edge of a box on the other side of the room, her feet a meter off the floor, but they were dripping paint into a puddle below her. Even as he watched her Keyblade slipped from her left hand, hitting the floor with a loud clang, then disappearing in a puff of sparkles. Slowly, her grip slipped. Eddie only had the time to step forward before she crashed down amid a pile of boxes, the stack toppling over on top of her.

* * *

_AN: If any paragraphs or sentences look odd, please tell me and they will be fixed ASAP._

_Next Chapter: Near Misses- the trouble an untied shoe can cause._


	18. Near Misses

_Chapter 18_

_(Near Misses)_

Turning the water off, Eddie hit the switch to let Roger and Jessica down as he ran across the room, "Sora!" he called, pausing at the edge of the pile of boxes. There was black and dark green paint smeared on some of them, but the Keyblade Master was not visible. Desperately shoving aside a heavy box, Eddie waded into the mess to find his brave young ally. Heedless of the paint he got on his hands, Eddie tossed aside boxes of Toon gags, finally coming across a limp blood-smeared hand, and taking hold of it, Eddie followed that lead further into the mess.

"Sora!" Dagger called, flat out running from where she'd finally gotten the front door open, having not been brave enough to leap in through the window. "Oh no!" she gasped as Eddie finally found what he was looking for. The girl was a mess, having caught the blast of Dip from chest to hip and she was still dripping even as Eddie picked her up carefully to cart out to the clear floor. Dagger, drawn in a very detailed and pastel style with tears in her eyes, knelt beside Kaiyou as Eddie laid her out on the wet floor. "Sora- oh Sora! You can't die!" she sniffled, clasping one of Kaiyou's hands.

Kaiyou didn't open her eyes, lying still as death as the Dip ate at her form, spreading a puddle of paint across the floor. Desperately, Dagger looked up at Eddie and asked, "Can't something be done?" It was a slim chance, but a chance none the less.

"I don't know," the detective admitted, "Re-draw him? I don't know if that's even possible."

Shaking her head, Dagger wiped her eyes, "I just can't let it end like this!"

"Eddie," Jessica called, oblivious to the drama across the room, the Dipmobile being between them. "Untie us?"

Stepping back, since he was of little use to Kaiyou, Eddie returned to Jessica and Roger to untie the ropes holding them. "Eddie," Roger commented, "You're covered in paint," he pointed at the black and gold smeared across his coat, above the smudge of blue ink on his shirt.

"Sora got Dipped," he admitted.

Gasping, the two Toons dashed across the puddle-strewn floor, avoiding the mess that had been Doom, and staggered to a stop a short distance from Dagger.

Light flickering from her palms, the white mage didn't look up from her work. She sat on the floor next to Kaiyou, her hands out over the smeared paint with her eyes closed and hair floating in an unfelt breeze, "Please," she whispered, "let this work!" Dagger prayed softly.

Collectively holding their breath, the Toons and Eddie watched. While they weren't quite sure what was going on, since the physical possibilities of Anime Toons and American Toons seemed to differ, it was obvious that Dagger was doing _something_, for the paint smears solidified and cleared into Kaiyou's natural clear bold lines.

Lowering her hands, Dagger panted and opened her eyes to look down at Kaiyou, "Sora," she whispered, brushing the other girl's hair back from her face, "Sora- please, wake up!"

Groggy, she pried her eyes open and blinked, "...Huh? What's everyone staring at?" she murmured.

Breaking into a bright smile, Dagger dived forward, grabbing Kaiyou and pulling her into a hug, "Oh Sora! You're alright!" she gasped.

Flushing bright pink and shaking her head, Kaiyou carefully pushed the girl away, "Yeah- um. I guess that was a bit stupid of me..." she mused, looking towards the Dipmobile, which had run out of Dip, but was still chugging along. "Ah-" she started, pointing towards the monstrous creation of Doom's as it crashed through the back wall of the factory.

Turning, they watched as the machine clanked and chunked, heading further into Toontown- only to abruptly get hit by a train. The Toons on the other side turned to look, gawking. Staggering to her feet, Kaiyou blinked as Dagger slid beneath her arm to help support her. "Um..." Kaiyou said softly, "You don't have to..."

"You're still wounded," Dagger insisted.

Seeking to change the subject, Kaiyou looked around, hunting for something to take everyone's attention off her. Unfortunately, Eddie wasn't so kind, instead, he asked, "What took you so long?"

Flushing, Kaiyou shook her head, "Sorry, Anime Physics. Nothing happens unless it's Dramatic and over the top. I couldn't sneak in or even go in through the front door."

"So you broke through the window?"

Kaiyou nodded slightly, "Yeah... um..." she looked over and paled, "I can't believe I jumped from the second story..." Now she was slightly glad Dagger was holding her up.

At last, Kaiyou's distraction appeared in the form of a crowd of Toons wandering in through the hole in the factory wall. Among them was Bugs, and he made his way over, apparently nominated the spokesman of the group since he seemed to know the major players involved in the incident. "What happened here?" Bugs asked, crunching a carrot he'd pulled from his fur-pocket.

Roger bounced excitedly, "Judge Doom was really a Toon!" he announced, "and he was trying to Dip Toontown so he could build a Freeway! We're saved!"

"Nyahh," Bugs stated, "Not by my reckoning, without Acme's will, we're just sitting ducks for the next wrecking ball," he pointed out, gesturing with his carrot. The other Toons behind him quieted down, falling into depression rather quickly.

Pouting, Roger looked around, then lifted his ears again and tried to revive the elation from moments ago by pointing out, "But Sora and Eddie were so spectacular!" Searching for another distraction, the ADHD rabbit looked at Eddie's shirt and pointed, "Eddie, what's that?"

"Oh, Acme shot me with some disappearing ink the night I met him at the Ink and Paint," Eddie explained. "Why it's there now..."

Roger pondered this briefly, then announced, "It must be Acme's Disappearing-Reappearing ink! Marvelous stuff, isn't it?"

Still flushing with embarrassment Kaiyou stared down at her shoes and shifted, unable to find anything to say to Roger's compliments. Bugs loomed at Kaiyou, "Y'know, I saw another kid that looked like you..."

Desperate for a change of subject, Kaiyou blurted, "Uh- Roger! Your love letter!" She recalled, having heard Roger babbling about it to Eddie in the car on the way, "Why don't you read it to Jessica, since she's here?"

Bouncing, Roger agreed immediately, and turned to Eddie, "Oh yeah!" he said, "That's the perfect thing!" Fishing in his coat, Eddie pulled out the crumpled and much abused paper and handed it over to Roger who unfolded it, then flipped it a few times to straighten it. Clearing his throat, he spoke loudly. "Dear Jessica! How I love thee! Let me count the ways- I, Marvin Acme, of sound mind and body-" gasps went around the room and Roger stopped, actually looking at what he was reading, "It's the _WILL_!"

"But why'd the writing only show up on that paper now?" Eddie asked.

"The Disappearing Ink!" Jessica gasped, "That was why the paper Acme gave me was blank!" Covering her face, her shoulders sagged.

As ecstatic shouts of glee went through the rabble of Toons, Kaiyou peered at the will Roger was waving while Jessica hugged him, shoving his face into her breasts. A flash of light lit the outline of the letter, then a line of light shot upwards, outlining a giant keyhole in the air above them.

Looking to Dagger, Kaiyou carefully stepped away from her and stared at the keyhole, unsure of what exactly it was there for, then looked down at her hand as her blade appeared. Figuring that she was supposed to unlock the thing, she lifted her Keyblade in a quick swish, cutting the air. Light shot out from the end of her Keyblade, hitting the keyhole, and when the light cleared, sparkles flittered down from the ceiling like confetti.

"What was that?" Eddie asked.

Shrugging, Kaiyou replied, "My door out of here?" she offered and cleared her throat.

"Hey, guys," Kaiyou said, calling the attention of Eddie, Roger, and Jessica as she pulled out her camera, "Can I take a picture?" she requested. Looking at her, Roger shrugged and took a place in front of Jessica. Backing up a step, Kaiyou looked at Dagger, then reached over, pushing her in to join the group. Lifting her camera, she lined up the shot and hit the flash. Lowering the camera, she smiled slightly at the picture preview. "Thanks," she told them shutting off the camera and putting it away.

Roger, freed from his wife's embrace, dashed over and latched onto Kaiyou, giving her a hug. Blushing, she couldn't help but smile and ruffled Roger's hair and ears. "Thanks, Roger," she said.

"For what?"

"Giving me the chance to prove myself... to myself," Kaiyou admitted. "I didn't think I could do it."

"Aww, P-p-please!" Roger replied, "You were great! Stupendous!"

Laughing, she scrubbed the back of her head and replied, "So what're you guys going to do with Toontown, now that you own it?"

Pausing, Roger thought on that, then shrugged, "Leave it how it is?"

Lifting a finger, she grinned, "Well, you know, I had this idea, maybe you should give it some thought?"

Eyes widening, Roger had to ask, "What's that?"

"A Freeway will probably be built eventually, and probably go past Toontown anyway, so why not make some money off it yourselves? The best way to do that is to make yourselves an attraction, something to get Tourists in. A Theme Park, perhaps?" Turning a sly look on him, she started to explain further, getting louder as she went on, "Just think of the money you could make of merchandising alone! Bugs Bunny dolls that talk when you pull the cord! Slingshot rides! Bumper cars! Theater skits! Oh! And those little booths like at fairs where you can launch a pie at someone for one munny! I'd _so_ pay for that! And the _entrance fees_! Twenty for adults, fifteen for children and seniors, and they've _still_ got to pay for food and drinks inside the park, and express tickets for the rides, and souvenirs!" She flung her hands into the air, then continued, "All things considered, that would probably be the best utilization of current resources. I mean, look at how many Toons are actors? They've already got a natural talent for making people laugh, so why not cash in on it? The fact that humans tend to take on Toon properties while in Toontown would cut down on the liability lawsuits- so long as you didn't use human-made objects to hit them with."

Silence fell, Eddie finally finding the wits to speak, "Sora... you're about as demented as Doom was."

Lifting a finger, she loomed at him and poiked him in the nose, "I am _not_," she denied, "I'm an opportunist at times, but I never suggest anything that would be detrimental to people's health. After all, I just nearly died saving these people! Why bother with all the trouble just to destroy them again?" She finished and backed off just as Deloris and the two strangers the Real Sora had been with came stumbling through the crowd. Terrified, Kaiyou stared at them, then looked past them towards the door, expecting Sora to come bursting in at any moment in a white hot rage.

"But- anyway, just think about it. Hey? I've got to go now," she squeaked.

Leaping forward, the man in the mage robes gasped, "Wait! You're Sora-Not-Sora! The Imposter, the Fake! Ah, what did he call you? Khimari? Do you remember?" He looked towards the Rhonso that came to stand beside him.

"Aros," Khimari supplied.

Turning pale, Kaiyou looked towards the door as Sora burst in and hesitated as their eyes met again, "Oh no- he's here! He'll kill me! I've gotta go!" she squeaked and closed her eyes, "Teleport me now!"

"Wait!" Sora shouted and began pushing his way through the crowd as light flared.

Kaiyou's eyes snapped open as she felt two pairs of hands grab onto her, one from her left side –small and female, and one from her right, large and male. Blinded, she shoved them off and staggered from their grip, dashing towards the pilot's seat of the Gummi Ship.

"Wait- where're we going?" the man who'd accused her in the factory asked.

"Somewhere!" she shouted, tears stinging her blue-dot-special blinded eyes, "Anywhere! Away from here!" grabbing the controls, she boosted the ship into thrust, knocking her passengers off their feet as she turned, shooting off in a random direction.

* * *

Leaping desperately, Sora's hand closed over nothing, and he landed hard on his face on the damp floor in the silence. "Shora!" Donald shouted, coming up to stand beside the young man who morosely remained on the floor, staring at his empty hand.

"Sora?" Goofy asked, coming to stand on Sora's other side, bending down, "I guess you didn't catch him."

Grumping, Sora pushed himself up, "Why'd he say I'd kill him? I wouldn't do _that_! Not unless he deserved it! Argh! This is so frustrating!" Sora stomped a foot, scrubbing his hair, then looked around, spotting Khimari standing where Laguna had left him, looking very confused. The poor Rhonso.

"Well, Aros just helped everyone here," Deloris pointed out, "I don't think he deserves anything more than a long talk about Identity Theft."

Turning towards her, Sora smiled, "Alright," he agreed, "Just a mild one. Thanks for the help, Deloris! Come on, Goofy, Donald, we'd better get going before he gets too far ahead of us." Sighing, he held up his hand, "this close," he peered at the centimeter of distance between his fingers. "Teleport us now," Sora stated, reaching out to take Donald and Goofy's arm and shoulder. Khimari placed a large paw on Sora's head in order to be included in on the Teleport.

When the light cleared, Eddie turned to Deloris and asked, "Uh... what just happened?"

* * *

_AN: Gasp! Just to chapter 18 is over one-hundred pages in my document! Whahahaa! Now, on to the next world!_

_Also, I'd like to take this moment to give a big THANK YOU to Ri2 for all the helpful comments and clarifications on stuff. I really appreciate it! Also, thank you to FrequencyQueen for her beta reading duties, I appreciate that too!_

_To everyone else who's been reading... please review? It makes me feel that my work isn't really appreciated when you don't comment. Sure the hit-counter shows lots of hits, but is it the same person looking at everything twenty times or is anyone actually reading?_

_Next Chapter: Two Organization members, some kids, and a trio of batty women three hundred years out of date._


	19. Burning Rain of Death

_Chapter 19_

_(Burning Rain of Death)_

Roxas leaned against the window of Axel's room, watching the rain while he heard the redhead banging around in his bathroom, cursing and slamming things in a way that suggested he was in a good mood. Lips curling slightly, the blonde sighed and shook his head. Amazing what giving Axel a little job did to the guy's spirits. Axel was a lot easier to deal with when he was in a good mood- in bad moods, he tended to pick fights, though the reasons behind the fights were always varied and never the same twice. Sometimes those fights were justified, but most of the time, Roxas suspected that Axel picked a fight then made up a reason for it after the fact.

As it was, Roxas sighed again, "Axel, Kairi doesn't take half as long as you do in the bathroom!"

Slamming the door open, Axel stepped out, adjusting the strange headband that now adorned his forehead. "Hey! I resent that comment," Axel grouched and stalked across the room, adjusting the hang of his black business suit jacket.

Blinking, Roxas turned to look Axel over from head to toe, taking note of the infra-red Cyclops goggles strapped across his forehead, the small diamond-shaped dog-tag necklace, wrinkled white dress shirt- untucked and buttons not evenly matched. His black suit jacket over the shirt was wrinkled as if it had been slept in, then thrown in the back of a closet for a year. Over his shirt, Axel wore a wide black leather belt with a black side-pack hanging off his left hip. On his legs he wore wrinkled black dress pants, and scuffed black dress shoes.

Lifting his black fingerless gloved hands away from his side, Axel grinned, "How do I look?"

"Like you got dressed in yesterday's clothes while you were drunk," Roxas replied honestly. "I don't see what took you so long..."

Gaping, Axel stood there speechless.

"Actually, it doesn't look like _just_ yesterday's clothes, but more like you spent three days in them before that, drunk."

"I did not!" Axel denied immediately, then looked aside in guilt, "...lately."

Stepping forward, Roxas shook his head and leaned in to peer at the necklace. It was a flat diamond shape of a deep red-brown bordered in black with a slice of white painted at the top. In the center was black writing, "What's that say?"

Immediately slapping a hand over the charm, Axel stated, "Something from a life I no longer have, okay?"

Lifting his sky-blue eyes, Roxas had to ask, "Why're you wearing it then?"

Narrowing his eyes at the blonde, Axel ignored his question and turned away, "It's time we went," he insisted, lifting a hand and pointed, opening a portal to the Darkness right in front of the door to the hall.

Faintly, Roxas smiled, knowing that he'd asked the right question to make Axel think- and knowing that he'd eventually hear what Axel was thinking about, he nodded and stepped past the redhead into the portal. Axel stepped in behind, leading the way through the darkness to the other side.

* * *

It was so strange being back in this place after so long. Roxas stifled his shiver of apprehension as they crept along the daunting white halls of the castle the Organization had claimed as theirs. Axel, predictably, was striding ahead, boldly as if he owned the place. Never mind what he'd said to Roxas not all that long ago about Xemnas wanting to kill them both, again, and again, and again. 

Remembering the depressing tendency for the halls to echo, Roxas refrained from asking Axel what he thought he was doing and instead tried to walk as quietly as he could. Instead, Roxas kept his eyes open for any movement along the numerous cross-halls that intersected the hall they were currently in. Their current path was towards the dungeons where Roxas hoped they'd find Mickey, Kairi, and Riku, but he couldn't help but fear that there would be guards in the dungeons that would alert the other Organization members and Maleficent that there were intruders.

"But I'm _not_ lying!" a voice broke the silence and Axel pulled to a stop. As one, the two intruders dived around a corner and into the inset of a door, straining to become as invisible as they could. Unfortunately, against the white walls, it wasn't that possible, but they tried.

"Enough Demyx!" a second male voice snarled, footsteps coming down the hall, "Your report was unnecessary. I've already put my pawn into play. Maleficent may think that she's the only one who can double cross, but she will learn that I am not one to play with."

Reaching behind him, Axel triggered the door and grabbed Roxas before he could topple backwards noisily, and together they stepped back into the room. Leaving the door open slightly, the two strained their ears to listen as the footsteps neared and passed their hall. Unfortunately, they only saw Xemnas stalk past as they peeked out. Demyx had stopped, shoulders sagging as he watched his leader head onwards.

Ducking back in the doorway as Demyx turned, the blonde musician folded his arms and started off down the hall towards them. "No one ever listens to me here!" he muttered, "No one ever gives me any respect and they always send me out on missions I'm not suited to! Just because I suck at fighting doesn't mean I'm not good at other things!"

Lost in his own thoughts, Demyx walked right past the opened door, the two spies having ducked back out of sight. However, Axel wasn't content to leave things as they were and reached out, grabbing the young blonde by the hood of his cloak and yanked. With a yelp, Demyx stumbled as he was hauled back into the room. Slapping the trigger for the door, Roxas closed and locked it while Axel slammed Demyx up against the wall, an arm against his neck. "Well," the redhead grinned, "I'll certainly listen to your report."

Aqua eyes going wide, Demyx stared from Axel to Roxas and locked on Roxas. "You- but I _saw_ Sora!" he gasped, "You can't be here!"

"That's beside the point. Where did you see Sora?" Roxas asked.

Struggling against Axel's grip, Demyx scowled, "I don't have to answer to you two!"

Pressing his arm harder against Demyx's throat, Axel pulled out a knife from its sheathe on his back and held it up into the blonde's view. "You do if you want to keep your pretty little manicured fingers," Axel threatened with a sweet smile.

Unable to help it, Roxas observed, "Wow, Axel, you sure do know how to sound threatening when you want to..." He blinked as he realized that he'd stuffed his own hands behind his back.

Smirking, Axel suddenly slammed Demyx hard against the wall, then withdrew to grab the blonde's arm, twisting it up behind his back as the redhead turned and shoved him further into the room. Looking around, Roxas frowned. They seemed to be in some sort of computer room, and the setup on the far wall reminded him far too much of the system he'd been dumped into to incubate Sora's memories. Shaking off the Déjà vu, Roxas turned his attention back to Demyx who was squalling, "No- no! Not my fingers! Please! I'd _really_ be useless without my fingers!"

In a sugary voice, Axel replied, "Alright then, tell us what we want to know. And if I don't like it... well, I always wanted to be a plastic surgeon. I think I'll make you my first patient." To emphasize, Axel twisted Demyx's arm, making him hunch lower on the floor in pain, unable to break free of the arm-lock he'd been put in.

"Alright!" Demyx yelped, "When we came back, we noticed that there were new worlds to conquer, more than just the ones that had their World Hearts sealed to the Darkness, so Maleficent and Xemnas started talking and decided that their goals were the same and that they could work together to bring the universe down into Darkness. So Xemnas set us all out to help the new worlds open their hearts to Darkness and Maleficent sent her Heartless along under our control to steal hearts." Swallowing, Demyx licked his lips, "Maleficent also sent her newest General, Lord Gary, to oversee things in her name, and while following Vexen's orders, I – I saw two Sora's! I tried to tell Xemnas, but he won't listen to me, and Vexen thought I was making stuff up. So now Xemnas has done something to betray Maleficent and I really don't wanna be around when she finds out!"

Snorting, Axel kept hold of the blonde's arm and shoved him down flat on the floor. "Don't cut my fingers!" Demyx howled, "I told you everything I know!"

"Roxas," Axel stated, "Find something to tie him up with."

Nodding, he turned and hunted off through the room, finally finding a long length of wire in a box, probably left over from building the computer, and returned. Handing the rope to Axel, he watched in fascination as the redhead expertly hogtied poor Demyx. Straightening, he grinned, "Thanks, bud. Now, don't go telling anyone we were here. I'd have to kill you if you did."

Immediately going pale, Demyx stared back over his shoulder, "No thanks, _Sora_ killing me was bad enough!"

Roxas shook his head and turned, "Let's go."

Lifting a hand, Axel stated, "Wait. Don't want _this_ nimrod giving us away..."

"No- no! Please! I won't say a word!" Demyx squeaked as he felt his boots being tugged off. "Oh- no! Axel- you're not... No!" he winced as his socks were removed, "No! Please not the _socks_! Oh _gross!_"...

* * *

"I'm not lighting it... _you_ light it." 

Biting his lower lip, visible beneath the hood of his black cloak, the younger member of Organization Thirteen retorted, "Boss told _you_ to light it."

"Well, I'm telling _you_ to light it!"

The younger member of the team scowled, "What makes you think _I_ can light it anyway?"

"Well- uh _I_ can't!" snapped the senior.

"You can't? Yeah right. I bet you're lying," retorted the younger.

The senior member of the team of two turned to eye his companion, lips turning downwards. Staring hard at each other and the silence that followed was full of daggers, neither wanting to admit to the other what could possibly make the mission a success or failure.

"Max! Wait up!" a childish whine interrupted, and as one, the Organization members turned towards the front door of the cob-web lined historical museum.

Looking to each other again, the senior member gave the order, "Hide!"

Turning, they dived for hiding spots amidst the shadows of the old building as the front door opened. "Ugh, I can't see a thing" the shorter of the two girls entering muttered, she pushed her red-brown hair back over her shoulder and adjusted her pointy witch's hat. The teenage boy, a brunet of possibly sixteen years, flailed a hand through the cobwebs as they forged their way in.

"There's a light switch around here somewhere..." the teenage blonde girl stated as the boy stepped in further.

"Found a lighter," the boy replied and after lighting it, located the light switch. With a flash and pop, one of the old light bulbs broke, but the others lit the room fairly well. "Whoa," the boy murmured.

Grinning, the boy looked over at the younger girl and said, "You scared, Dani?"

"Hardly, Max," Dani replied and stuck out her tongue at her older brother.

The blonde wandered further into the room and began her tour guide monologue, "Here's the original cauldron," she placed her hands on the rim of the pot set in the middle of the room. "And upstairs is where they slept." She looked over as Max wandered further into the room, "Oh, and be careful where you step. The floors are old."

Dani yelped as the floor creaked menacingly beneath her as Max walked past, quartering the room. It was a dusty place, filled with cobwebs and spiders. A desk on the other side of the room was home to an ancient cash register and beneath the glass top were souvenirs.

"This is the spell book of Winifred Sanderson," the blonde stated, moving past the cauldron to touch the glass case a book was displayed in, "It was given to her by the devil himself. The book is bound in human skin and contains the recipes for her most powerful and evil spells."

Max came to stand next to her and looked down at the book, then rolled his eyes, "I get the picture." Wandering away, his eye caught a thick wax candle that sat ensconced on one of the support posts of the house, "What's that?" he asked, noticing the plaque set beneath the candle.

"The Black Flame Candle," the blonde replied, tossing her long hair back over her shoulder.

Grinning, Max leaned in to blow the dust off the plaque and read, "Made from the fat of a hangman. Legend says that on a full moon, it will raise the spirits of the dead... When lit by a virgin on Halloween night." Straightening, he looked over his shoulder at his companions, "Hmm... So let's light the sucker and meet the old broads!" he suggested, then turned, holding out the lighter to the blonde, "Will you do the honors, Allison?"

Disgusted, Dani folded her arms and turned away, Allison rolled her eyes and replied, "No, thanks."

Shrugging, Max turned back towards the candle and flipped the lighter open, "Well-" he started.

From the shadows, a black shape darted, landing hard against Max's shoulder. Digging its claws in, the black cat leapt off before the boy could get his hands on the beast. Furious, Max glared, "Stupid cat!" Determined, Max turned and opened the lighter again and set flame to the wick of the Black Flame Candle.

Silence fell in the building as the flame flickered a bright yellow, but Max's smirk slipped from his lips as the flame nearly guttered, then relit- pitch black.

"Okay Max," Dani squeaked, "You've had your fun, it's time to go!" Grasping Allison's hand, the redhead turned, heading for the door, "Come on, Allison!"

Their progress abruptly halted as the floor rolled, boards bouncing beneath their feet and Max stumbled towards the two girls to join them.

Exchanging looks, the Organization members hiding in the shadows whispered, "Mission, Success!"

"Step one, anyway," sighed the shorter of the two men in black coats.

"Step two will be easy!" the senior member hissed confidently.

Just as suddenly as it had started, the room settled and the three children breathed, "What... just happened?" Max asked, rather rhetorically.

Dani, however, was unclear on the concept and answered anyway, "A virgin... lit the candle."

As if things hadn't been weird enough, a cold wind blasted the house, sneaking in through the cracks and rose up from the floor. As it rushed through the room, all the light bulbs popped, one by one, and relit as candles. In a burst of heat, the fireplace lit, as did the fire beneath the cauldron in the center of the room.

"We're _hooome_!" crooned a female voice from outside and like mice, the three children scattered, finding places to hide just before the door slammed open, a tall redhead striding into the room confidently, her brunet and blonde companions slipping behind. "Do you see, sisters? My curse worked perfectly!" the redhead announced.

The large brunet giggled, "That's because thou art perfect, Winnie!"

Stepping into the center of the room, the redhead frowned and lifted a finger to her painted lips, "I knew I left this cauldron on," she stated, staring down at the fire beneath the empty pot, "Didn't I tell you? Oh, I knew it."

At the door, the blonde witch stepped in a precise pace and reached up to the rafter overhead and felt around before settling back with her prize in hand, "Oh! My Unlucky rat's tail!" she twisted it in her hands gleefully, "Just where I left it!" The brunet witch, meanwhile, was wandering around the room, leading with her nose, eyes peering into the shadows.

"But who... lit the Black Flame Candle?" Winnie continued, then turned, looking around the room, and stopped in front of the glass case in which the spell book rested. Tapping her long nails on the glass, she crooned, "Wake up... Wake up sleepyhead. Ohh, I've missed you! Did you miss me too? Come on now, we've got work to do!"

"Winnie!" the brunet called.

Interrupted, Winnie straightened and turned, "Yes, Mary?"

Mary flashed a hideous grin, "I smell children!"

Catching a breath and leaning forward, "Sic em!" Winnie ordered.

Obediently, Mary continued around the room, sniffing, "It's a little girl... Seven. Maybe eight. And a half."

The blonde witch excitedly bounced, her breasts nearly falling out of the top of her corset. "Oh! Let's play with her!" Taking a breath, she leaned on her toes as she and Winnie followed Mary around the room and breathlessly sang, "Come little... children... I'll take thee away-"

Lifting a hand, Winnie covered the blonde's mouth, pinching her nose. Suffocating, the blonde flailed her hands as the three came to the checkout counter for the gift shop and leaned forward. "Come out, my dear... We will not harm thee," Winnie crooned reassuringly, then smiled.

Pulling Winnie's hand off her mouth, the blonde gasped, "We _love_ children!"

A grin flashing across her features, Winnie lifted both her hands and slammed them on the desk loudly.

Shrieking, Dani jumped to her feet and stood there a moment, staring at the three witches that stared back at her. Pushing her hair from her face, she thought quickly and said, "I thought thou would never come, sisters!"

Amused, Winnie leaned on the counter with her elbow and replied, "Greetings, little one."

Tossing her head, Dani continued with an air of confidence, "'Twas I who brought you back!"

Eyes half-lidded, Winnie murmured, "Imagine..." straightening, she glided around the side of the desk, and Dani backed away fearfully. "Such a pretty little..." Winnie paused, forcing the word out, "Child."

Mary sniggered, "Look at her! And she's so well fed, isn't she, Sara?"

The blonde witch giggled, "Plump! Plump!" Sara announced, bouncing on her toes.

"Shish-ka-baby!" Mary crowed, poking Dani in the stomach as the girl backed up, tripping over herself and falling into the heavy wooden captain's chair near the wall.

Leaning in, Winnie smiled, "Tell me, dumpling... What is the year?"

No longer able to think at all, Dani blurted, "Nineteen-ninety-three!"

Stepping back, Winnie looked at her companion witches and stated, "Sisters! We've been gone three-hundred years!"

Curling around behind the chair Dani sat pinned in, Mary sniggered, "Well, how time flies... when you're dead!" The witches burst out laughing and Dani joined with a fake giggle, eyes wide in terror.

Coughing, the little girl shifted, setting her feet on the floor as she tried to slip from the chair and escape the witches, "It's been great fun, but I- I guess I'd better be going!"

Though her attempt was brave, Winnie shoved the girl back into the chair by her shoulders and stated, "Oh, stay for supper!" though she hardly sounded inviting.

Swallowing, Dani cowered back, "I- I- I'm not hungry!"

Menacingly, Winnie loomed, "Oh... but _we_ are!"

"Soup!" one of the other two witches cried and as one, all three grabbed Dani up and hauled her struggling towards the cauldron in the center of the room.

"Hey!"

The scene came to a screeching halt as the witches looked over.

Max stepped out from his hiding place and ordered, "Let go of my little sister."

Giggling, Mary said, "Roast him, Winnie!"

Sarah immediately objected, "No- let me! Let me _play_ with him!"

Hand lifting, Winifred pointed at Max and stated, "You. There!" Arcs of lightning flew from her fingers, crackling as they contacted the witch's target, and breath knocked out, Max collapsed to the floor. Pointing again, Winnie slid the boy across the room, then at Winnie's next gesture was upright again, slammed face-first into the wall.

"Max!" Dani shrieked, struggling against Mary.

A smirk on her lips, Winnie lifted her hands to throw another bolt of lightning at her unarmed target when the dark streak of black darted out from the shadows again, latching onto Winnie's shoulder, claws slashing across her face. Shrieking, Winnie grabbed hold of the cat and slung him across the room.

Sneaking from her hiding place, Allison silently crept across the room to pick up the first thing that came to hand, which turned out to be a frying pan. Distracted with Max, the witches didn't notice her movements even as Dani broke free from Mary with a shout, "You leave my brother alone!" With that, she bashed Winnie across the face with her bag of candy, then darted for the door as Max scrambled to his feet.

Inspiration hitting him, Max climbed atop the desk, and from there, swung onto a rafter, "You've messed with the great and powerful Max- and now! You must suffer the consequences!" Lifting his hand up, the boy opened the lighter. "I now summon... the Burning Rain of Death!"

Confused, the witches remained where they were, staring up at him as Max held the lighter next to the smoke sensor, setting off the fire sprinklers. "Get the book!" a voice shouted.

Jumping to the floor as the witches shrieked and dived for cover, Max smashed open the case holding Winnie's book and reaching in, plucked it out. Dani, standing near the door, shrieked at him to hurry. Slipping on the slick dusty floor, Max landed on his back, then blinked up at the black cat that hopped onto his chest.

"Nice going, Max," the cat said, lashing his tail in disgust, "Come on!" Leaping off, the cat headed out the door and Max scrambled to his feet. Together, the four ran from the house and into the night.

Winnie scowled at the door from where she stood beneath the dubious shelter of the loft. Beside her, Mary and Sarah whimpered, "Burning Rain of Death!"

Reaching out a cupped hand, Winnie stared at the water that collected there, then licked her palm. "We've been _tricked_!" she hissed in fury.

"Tricked?" tittered the two behind her.

Stepping out of her shelter, Winnie stated, "It's just _water_."

Hesitating before following their sister's example, the two witches held out their hands into the sprinkling water, then licked their palms. "Just water..." Mary whispered to Sarah and they stepped out.

"Come, sisters. We must get the book back!" Winnie cried and turned towards the door, only to stop.

Arms folded and hood shading his face, the senior member of the Organization smirked, "Before you go, Ladies... might I have a word with you?"

Winnie took a breath and lifted her chin, scowling as she lifted her fingers, intending to forcefully remove the man in her path.

"You see, I have a proposition that would be... beneficial to us both... If you would just hear me out," the cloaked man smirked, "I'm sure you'd agree. How would you like to have... an army to hunt for those brats with?"

Brows rising, Winnie lowered her hand. "You have... my attention."

_AN: I apologize profusely for the massive use of script in this chapter. I'll try not to do it again, but in this case, I followed the script because nothing much had changed except the beginning and end of the opening scene for this world. There's not much else I use this much script for in the rest of the Hocus Pocus world._

_Please review! Tell me what you think I could have done better, or what you really liked so I can keep doing it. Thankies!_

_Next Chapter: Kaiyou & Co arrive at a new world and immediately get up to their necks in trouble._


	20. Welcome to Salem

_Chapter 20_

_(Welcome to Salem)_

Kaiyou sighed, rubbing the back of her neck, then lifted her ocean-blue eyes to look at her current companions.

Well, the good news was... she'd successfully avoided Sora.

The bad news...

"So! Where're we now, Sora-Not-Sora?" the mage asked, grinning as he thumped his fists on his hips.

"No-where if you call me that again," Kaiyou stated in as firm a voice as she could manage. That wasn't very firm at the moment, considering how off-balanced she currently was emotionally.

Leaning forward, the man put a finger to his chin as he looked her over, "You really don't look much like Sora at all. Well, I suppose you look like a younger version of him. Maybe a fourteen-year-old version..."

Lifting her hands above her head, she flailed them, "I'm _sixteen_!" Blinking, Kaiyou dropped her hands back to her sides, realizing belatedly that she was no longer a Toon and the effect just wasn't the same. "Idiot," she muttered and turned away, heading across the room to the teleport pad.

"Um, Sora?" Dagger asked softly, and Kaiyou was forced to pause, one foot on the edge of the platform as she turned to look at the healer.

Unable to remain irritated at the poor girl that had gotten dragged into this by accident, Kaiyou answered, "Yes?"

"You're... not mad at me, are you?" Dagger asked, stepping forward, "It's just... you rescued me, and- I need to get home, wherever home is."

Expression softening further, Kaiyou looked down with a sigh, "Yeah- it's alright, Dagger. I promised to get you home, didn't I?"

Laughing softly, she nodded agreement. Whether Kaiyou had or not, she couldn't quite remember, but either way, she had now, and it was witnessed. Jogging forward, Dagger hopped onto the platform ahead of Kaiyou, clasping her hands behind her and looked back over her shoulder. "You look a lot different here," she said, then turned around to place a finger on Kaiyou's nose, "But no less cute!"

Blushing bright pink, Kaiyou coughed and looked away. _'What an odd thing for her to say! Bah! This just isn't fair!'_

_'I point out that this isn't the first girl that's gotten a crush on you,'_ Umi stated, _'Remember Lina?'_

Inwardly wincing as she stepped onto the platform and turned, Kaiyou replied to her Other voice, _'Yeah. I felt really sorry after she made that lunch for me... it was one of the sweetest gifts I'd ever gotten... one of the few gifts I'd ever gotten. Too bad I couldn't take it. If Gary had been there that year, he would have done something to make sure she was ripped to shreds. He would have loved it.'_

Going pale, Kaiyou nearly gasped and stared at Dagger, guilt washing through her like a wave and eating away at her Sandcastle of Confidence, _'Oh no! That... couldn't possibly be what Gary's up to!'_

Umi replied, _'More than likely. If you thought of it, he likely thought of it long before you.'_ In a slight change of subject, Umi continued, _'You know that comment Eddie made about you thinking like a mobster? I was giving it some consideration and I believe the reason is because your enemies ARE mobsters, and to successfully avoid them, you've had to learn how to think like them and stay a step ahead.'_

_'Didn't work a lot of the time,'_ Kaiyou admitted, _'Usually because there's only one of me and they always had Friends.'_

_'But now YOU'VE got Friends...'_ Umi pointed out in a devious little whisper.

"What's _that_ grin for?" the green-eyed mage asked, leaning down to peer at Kaiyou's face.

Flushing, the girl leaned back, "Nothing!" she denied, waving her hands emphatically. She was _not_ about to admit her evil thoughts to anyone!

The mage laughed and stepped up beside her, replying flippantly, "_Nothing_ sure seemed pretty Demonic to me, considering the glint in your eyes. But- well, if you want to lie to us..."

Eyes widening, Kaiyou couldn't stop herself from blurting "I'm not lying!" her face turned bright pink as she hunched her shoulders and looked away, "It's just- nothing of your concern... at the moment. If it comes to a point where it seems prudent to let you in on it, then I'll say something, but at the moment, there's no point. In any case, we should get moving and check out the lay of the land!"

_'However, he DOES have a point. You should at least set the record straight with Dagger. Otherwise, you're leaving her open to Gary,'_ Umi relentlessly pointed out.

Closing her eyes as she triggered the teleport, Kaiyou winced and admitted to herself if no one else, _'Okay... okay. I'll do it! I'll tell Dagger I'm not really Sora ...soon.'_ Exasperated, Umi sighed.

Irritated with the voice in her head- but only because she knew Umi was right- Kaiyou opened her eyes and looked around, "Ugh," she muttered, "A graveyard."

"Yeah... maybe you could have picked a better spot to teleport into?" suggested the mage, quite helpfully, "Like... maybe a hotel?" Lifting a hand, he yawned behind it, "'Cause, I don't know about you, but I've been up since yesterday morning, and battling Heartless on top of that..."

Half-heartedly, Kaiyou slapped him in the stomach, "Quit complaining, I'm tired too!" Turning, she stalked away a few steps, then looked around, "Actually, if you're _that_ tired. Why don't you sit here," she pointed at an old tombstone and continued, "And rest?" She put on a smile, sure that it looked demented and evil, despite her meaning for it to look reassuring and encouraging. Her eyes were wide with terror at the sudden decision she'd come to. It was indeed, now or never, and if she could get the mage to leave her alone with Dagger for a little while...

The mage frowned at her, "Why...?" he asked slowly, "You're not going to do something to me, are you?"

Stomping a foot, Kaiyou snapped, "No! I- I just need to talk to Dagger for a second- _alone_! You wouldn't understand!" Eh. Well, likely he would, and likely he'd be upset as Dagger was going to be, but Kaiyou figured it best to take this on one person at a time. Besides, she didn't even know this new guy's name. _'How can I trust him? I don't know him...'_ her hand snuck up to wrap around her pendant in a desperate grasp for courage.

_"Promise me... Promise that we'll get to know each other!"_ a memory of a voice whispered through her mind, as Kaiyou stared at the mage. But she couldn't remember who the voice belonged to, and she doubted she'd kept the promise anyway.

Abruptly, she turned away and came face to face with Dagger. Their eyes met and Kaiyou blinked and blushed at Dagger as the light of a full moon glittered in her hair through the old trees in the cemetery. Nodding, Dagger started off, picking a random direction, and Kaiyou followed, letting go of her pendant once more as she walked.

Sighing cheerfully, the mage took a seat and said, "Ahh, young love! You know, I was in love with a pianist once. Her name was Julia..." and from that point on, he was talking to himself, for his only possible audience had withdrawn beyond a few trees to conduct their conversation.

Grinding her teeth, Kaiyou stared straight ahead as she walked beside Dagger, nervous enough to make her stomach clench and she realized that the last thing she'd eaten was breakfast. Too late now... Not like it mattered. She'd gone nearly two days without food before, after she'd run away from her foster home. She clenched her fingers on the hem of her shirt. Distractions aside, Kaiyou figured it was time she started. Abruptly stopping, she turned to face Dagger with almost military precision. "I- ah..." she started with, but her voice cracked and dropped into a whisper.

Dagger was staring at her with a secret little smile, as if she knew what was coming. Flushing as the thought occurred to her that Dagger might be thinking that Kaiyou was about to profess love or something, she shook her head and forged onwards. "Dagger... Dagger, I lied," Kaiyou said in a rush. Dropping her gaze, she hunched her shoulders, unable to deal with looking at the other girl's face. "I said I was Sora and I'm not."

Laughing softly, Dagger reached over and touched Kaiyou's shoulder, "I figured that out the moment you introduced yourself. Remember?" Leaning in, she added, "Here's my secret... My name isn't really Dagger."

Looking towards the girl again, Kaiyou's brows lifted, "I guess I've got no reason to be mad." Unable to help it, she quirked the left side of her lips wryly and glanced beyond Dagger towards the mage, who was still sitting where they'd left him, talking to himself.

"Then let's just get straight to the truth?" Dagger offered, smoothing over the choppy waters like a swan. How graceful she was- in movements and conversation. Kaiyou envied her. "My real name is Princess Garnet Til Alexandros the Seventeenth."

"I'm... just Kaiyou," she admitted, looking down, ashamed at being so... Common. Here she was, standing with a real princess who thought she was a guy, and the only thing she could force herself to say was, "You're the first I've actually told..."

Dagger smiled, her brown eyes twinkling as she leaned closer, "Thank you for trusting me."

Her breath caught as the echo of Yen Sid's voice rattled in her mind, _"You have difficult choices ahead of you, and I suspect you will survive them, but the best outcome will only occur if you learn to trust..."_

_'Have I truly learned, or is this a fluke?'_ she asked Umi.

Thankfully, Umi didn't answer with what Kaiyou suspected was the truth. _'It's a fluke.'_

Depression started to set in as Kaiyou lifted her eyes and met Dagger's gaze- the princess had moved in a step while Kaiyou wasn't paying attention. Now, they were barely a breath away, and Kaiyou could do little but stare stupidly into Dagger's eyes. Dagger leaned forward, standing on her toes as she pressed her lips to Kaiyou's in a light kiss, hands on the taller girl's shoulders. Completely shocked, Kaiyou stared straight ahead, eyes wide and unblinking as Dagger slipped back again and said, "I like you. You're a very good friend."

"_Just_ a Friend?" Kaiyou asked, breathless. She'd _never_ been kissed before! Not even on the cheek! But- but to have her first kiss from a _girl_? That was... was... just...!

"I'm sorry..." Dagger said softly, looking away as if it were her fault- obviously thinking that she'd just broken Kaiyou's heart.

"Don't be. It's fine!" Kaiyou hurried to say waving her hands in denial, trying not to lick her lips, or wipe them on her sleeve, "I mean... It does make me wonder what you do to _MORE_-than-friends!" Laughing weakly, she stepped back and scrubbing the back of her head with one hand, she blushed to the roots of her hair and tried to look at anything but Dagger.

Laughing as well, Dagger blushed and added, "I just wanted you to know that I like you, but I love someone else."

Finally catching her breath, Kaiyou dropped her hand and shook her head, "You and I wouldn't work anyway. It's alright, Dagger. I'm happy you don't love me. I'm happy you consider me your friend." Stepping forward again, Kaiyou carefully put her arms around Dagger and hugged her lightly, then retreated two steps, putting some distance between them. Honestly, she wasn't sure what to make of her relationship with Dagger now. _'Is she... really my friend? If she is... I should tell her I'm a girl. But- but then she'd know that she just kissed a girl and-'_ Kaiyou blushed all over again at the thought, emotions writhing in agony at the dilemma she now found herself in. _'I want to keep her as a friend- oh what do I do! I can't tell her the truth NOW!'_

A moment of silence fell between them as they stared at each other, and in that silence, Kaiyou realized. _'The thing I fear the most... is the Truth. Even though I try so hard not to lie- I just never say anything when others make up things, so in essence, I am lying.'_ Her stomach clenched, the emptiness within her having nothing to do with the fact that she'd not eaten. _'I'm so hollow,'_ she thought. _'I may have a name, but that's just a shell. A Person is more than a Name. I can't really be friends with anyone because there's nothing for them to be friends WITH!'_

Taking a breath, Dagger said, "Do you want me to keep calling you Sora?"

"Uh... Aros works... In the end, it doesn't really matter what I'm called," Kaiyou said faintly, "A name is a name. Just so long as you don't think I'm someone else. I mean... I- I- I'd like it if... just... _someone_ knew it was me and not just me adding more glory to Sora's name. Whoever he is. I really don't know who he is, actually. Just, the people who found me called me Sora and I couldn't remember then, so I just... went with it," Kaiyou looked down and blinked as Dagger took her hands. _'Though, if I am just a shell... Why do I still want to take credit for things I did in Sora's name, even if it's only to her? I shouldn't care.'_ Clenching her teeth, Kaiyou tried to tell what little remained of her aching heart to _not_ care. It just hurt all the more.

Leaning closer, Dagger smiled, "It's alright, Kaiyou," she said, "_I_ know you're the one who really helped Toontown- and if the people you care about are the ones who know the truth, then what does it matter what everyone else thinks?"

Kaiyou took a breath and let it out, finally putting on a wry smile for Dagger, though Kaiyou hardly felt that the expression was anything more than a mask. She nodded, "Alright. Thanks... Thank you, Garnet, for not being mad at me." Admittedly, she had to wonder, _'The people I care about? Do I really care about Dagger?'_ It took Kaiyou a moment to step back emotionally and look at things before the realization dawned. _'I do care. Dagger's right. I DO care, which is why I wanted her to know my real name. I wanted her to know what little is left of the Real Me instead of the lies others make up that I don't bother denying.'_

Now that she thought on it, Kaiyou wondered at herself, _'All those smiles and laughs... they were all fake. I realize that now that I've met someone who refused to leave me when they found out the truth. Or at least part of it...'_ She let her smile slide from her lips._ 'Now... if Dagger knew that she'd just kissed a girl- would her opinion change?'_ Kaiyou winced. "We'd better get back to Loud Mouth before he gets into trouble. He seems like the type that can find trouble even when locked in a padded room."

_'That wasn't all you needed to tell her,'_ Umi pointed out as they headed back towards the chattering mage.

_'Shut up! I'm doing good to have just admitted that I'm not Sora to SOMEONE at least!'_ Kaiyou snapped back, embarrassed and upset at the same time. She'd wanted to tell Dagger, but... but...

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!"

Kaiyou came to an abrupt stop at the voice, looking around for its source. "Come on! This is a _graveyard_!" the strange male voice continued.

"It's hallowed ground. Witches can't set foot here," a second male voice replied.

A second passed and the first voice said, "He talks..."

"Follow me!" the second voice said, and Kaiyou pressed a finger to Dagger's lips and they ducked down behind the tombstones. A second later and their offensive mage joined them.

"I heard something," the man whispered.

"Strangers," Kaiyou stated, "You two stay here, I'll check it out."

Before either could object, she was off, skittering through the shadows towards the new voices. "Over here," the second voice continued, "I want to show you something. Give you an idea of exactly what we're dealing with." Covertly, Kaiyou peered around the trunk of a tree, finding three people and a cat- the cat sitting on a tombstone. Frowning, Kaiyou slid down to all fours, and balancing on her fingers and toes, she crept across the grass and leaves, slinking through the shadows like a cat. This was odd... She'd distinctly heard two male voices, yet there was only one male present- unless that tall blonde or the little girl had an absurdly deep voice.

"William Butcherson, lost soul?" said the first male voice.

Tail flicking, the cat replied, "Billy Butcherson was Winifred's lover, but she found him sporting with her sister Sarah, so she poisoned him and sewed his mouth shut with a dull needle... so he couldn't tell her secrets even in death." He paused, his ears turning back towards her as far as they would go before he finished speaking, "Winifred always was the jealous type."

The tall blonde gasped, "You're Thackery Binx!"

Nodding, Binx replied gravely, "Yes."

Thoughtfully, the other boy muttered, "Huh. So the legends are true."

Kaiyou breathed softly, shifting her weight on her hands, trying to stay off the dry crackly leaves that would give away her position. Her arms had begun to shake, and she feared that if things got serious here, she wasn't going to be worth much in a few hours. Hunger gnawed at her stomach like a rabid beast, throttling her spine with an all too familiar ache.

Binx lashed his tail and looked around, large yellow eyes narrowing as he looked around, "Well, come along. I want to show you something else," he said, hopping off the tombstone he'd been sitting on. His next destination was yet another grave, but he wasn't so disrespectful as to walk on this one. This new position allowed Kaiyou a fantastic view of the group, but also left her out in the open. Unfortunately, it was too late to move. _'If I don't move, they won't notice me,'_ she thought, then frowned, _'The cat probably knows I'm here though...'_

Pausing a moment before he continued and glancing towards Kaiyou's hiding place, Binx seemed to come to a decision and raised his voice slightly, "Because of me, my little sister's life was stolen. For years I waited for my life to end so I could be reunited with my family. But Winifred's curse of immortality kept me alive. Then one day I figured out what to do with my eternal life. Now, I'd failed Emily, but I wouldn't fail again. When Winifred and her sisters returned, I'd be there to stop them. So for three centuries I've guarded the house on All Hallows Night, when I knew some airhead virgin might light that candle."

Snorting, the short redheaded girl stated, poking her brother in the ribs. "Nice going, airhead."

Glaring at her in return, the human boy snapped, "Hey, look, I'm sorry, okay? We're talking about three ancient hags versus the Twentieth century. How bad can it be?"

Binx replied simply, "Bad."

An unexpected crunch of leaves to Kaiyou's left had her ducking behind the angel statue tombstone she'd been crouched in the shadow of, but her unexpected dive had caused a lot of noise.

"Who's there?" the boy demanded.

"Someone concerned," purred a voice- a familiar voice, and Kaiyou's heart skipped.

_'Oh God! No... not here... not him again!'_

Though she risked being seen, Kaiyou partially turned to peer around the base of the stone angel she hid behind, spotting the familiar white coat and black hair of none other than Gary. He stood elegantly, holding a rose in one hand, touching the petals lightly to his cheek as he gazed at the group of two teens, a little girl, and cat. "My name is Gary Wilkson," he introduced, "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation- it caught my attention because I..." he blushed on cue, his features perfect porcelain in the light of the full moon, "I happen to be well versed in such paranormal issues as ghost exorcisms and witch hunts."

Binx hissed.

"Why are you here?" the teenage boy demanded, "That sounds too coincidental!"

Gary laughed lightly, "I come from out of town," he told them, "I'd been doing some research and come across references to the Sanderson Sisters and wished to take a look into the subject. I'm here," he gestured at the ground, "To visit the grave of Emily Binx," he held up his rose, "And leave an offering to her. Such a tragic end for such a young life," his expression grew very sad and he gazed down at the tombstone.

Still, Binx did not seem to buy it, but the redheaded girl said, "Oh, that's nice of you, Mister Wilkson."

The teenage girl folded her arms and stated, "So what kind of help could you give us?"

Gary smiled and knelt, placing the rose on Emily's grave, then stood again, slowly so his hair shaded his eyes briefly. Halfway up, he lifted his face and flashed his sapphire eyes at the blonde, "I'm what you might call a Warlock, but I wield my powers for the greater good, destroying those who wish to wreak havoc and destruction. Heartless souls... like the Sanderson Sisters."

Kaiyou ground her teeth, watching as Gary made his moves. She'd seen countless other guys attempt to do what Gary was now trying on the blonde. They'd all had various degrees of success, but it always took them longer to win over their Challenge. Gary... Gary liked picking the intelligent girls with high self esteem, the ones that wouldn't bat an eye at a pretty face. He tailored his script to the girl depending on what they said and did, and Kaiyou feared that this girl would be toast if she wasn't warned. While the teenage boy she was with, and Binx, weren't quite able to pin down why they disliked Gary, the girls were completely enthralled.

For the life of her, though, Kaiyou could not move, her breath catching in her throat as she stared at the scene. _'Again!'_ Kaiyou raged at herself, _'Why is it that I always freeze up when Gary is involved? What hold does he have over me? Why is it that I ...I want his attention so badly? I'm not in love with him. I hate him. I hate his guts, his soulless eyes. I hate his every breath! Yet I still want ... I want him to be my Brother. Maybe it's because we've known each other so long? I've never seen any of the others that were in that first orphanage with us after I was taken away- except Gary. I keep meeting Gary.'_

"So you see," Gary continued smoothly, "I couldn't help but listen in." He spread his hands, as if laying out his hand of cards for all to see- he was such a master at body-language.

Kaiyou scowled. _'No one ever seems to trust me at first glance... Except Dagger... DOES she trust me?'_ Shaking her head, Kaiyou thumped her head against the gravestone she hid behind, _'No! No! I will NOT second guess Dagger! I WANT to believe her! I WILL believe her!'_

Meanwhile, the blonde was nodding, and the little girl was staring with wide eyes. Picking up the book the group had brought with them, the blonde held it out towards Gary, "Maybe you can find some spell in this that will destroy the Sanderson Sisters for good?" she suggested.

Looking at the book, Gary murmured, lifting a hand, but not touching it just yet, "Ah... one from the Devil's own Hand," he said in a knowing voice, "Powerful spells, but mostly kitchen magic. I'm more of a hands-on type, but yes, there is probably something in there that could give a clue on how to break Winifred Sanderson's curse."

_Now_ he reached for it- but jerked his hands back when Binx leapt, raking the back of the teen's hand. "No!" Binx hissed, and the blonde dropped the book, having been startled by the black cat's sudden attack. Landing on the book, Binx's hair stood on end, making him appear twice his actual size, "Stay out of there!" he ordered firmly. "Nothing good can come of this book. _Nothing_!"

The teenaged boy stepped forward, "Yeah, we're better off destroying it," in fury he couldn't explain, the boy took out his lighter and tried to set fire to the book.

Binx sighed, "It's protected by magic..." he explained.

Rubbing the blood from the back of his hand, Gary sighed softly, "You really didn't have to scratch me," he complained softly and the blonde stepped forward immediately.

"Let me see-" she held out her hands.

Gary dissembled, "It's nothing really..." Of course, his timing and script were perfect and he hesitated just long enough for the blonde to have to reach out and grab his hand. Gary was also quite careful to keep from resisting too much as she pulled it over to look at the scratches in the moonlight.

A crash of leaves drew all eyes towards Kaiyou's companion, the brunet mage man, whatever his name was as he strode through the trees towards Gary and his innocent victims. Kaiyou dubbed the mage 'Idiot' in her mind in lieu of a real name to call him. Stepping forward, frowning, the man stated, "You- you're the one that dropped that Heartless on us at Maroon's studio!" he accused, leveling a finger at Gary. "You could have hurt a lot of people with a stunt like that!"

Gary's expression turned cold for all of a second then he smiled in a slimy way, slipping his hand free of the blonde girl's grasp and stepped back. "I miscalculated your strength," he said in a sugary sweet voice, smiling even as he continued, "I shall have to try harder to kill you next time, Black Mage. As well as Sora and the bratty Copy-Cat," Before they could blink, Gary leapt backwards, floating through the portal of darkness he opened directly behind him, and it closed.

Gasping for air, Kaiyou shoved herself to her feet and shook her head, stepping out from behind the gravestone angel to stalk over to her Idiot mage and slapped his shoulder, "Nice going, numbskull. I was planning on ambushing him!"

"_You_ were just sitting there!" the mage retorted.

Lamely, Kaiyou replied, "I was _waiting_ for him to screw up his lines," which was unlikely, but possible, considering that Boyfriend Candidate Number One was standing right next to the Blonde Challenge, and then there was the little girl who was about eight or nine, and likely would have noticed _something_ in her childish innocence. Younger children tended to be completely oblivious to Gary's charms.

True to her nature, the little girl said, "What weird people!" turning, she pointed at the mage, "You're a warlock," she named him, then looked at Dagger as the brown-eyed girl stepped out through the trees, approaching the group, "and you're a white witch." Swinging around to look at Kaiyou, the girl pointed rudely, "But what're _you_ dressed up as?"

Deadpan, Kaiyou replied, "A demon killer. Wanna see my magic sword? I'll make the intro quite... _personal_," the girl just stared and the boy immediately pulled the little girl behind him, having recognized the dangerous tone in Kaiyou's voice. While normally, she wouldn't have said that to the little girl, she felt it was necessary, they _had_ to be warned about Gary, no matter what the cost to her own personal reputation.

"You leave Dani alone," the boy snarled.

Kaiyou looked at him, "I was just checking _your_ reflexes," she stated, returning her voice to a tone less confrontational, "You seemed rather slow when Gary was here. But then, he's got that effect on people. It's probably the pretty eyes. Hypnotic, aren't they?"

"What do you mean?" the blonde demanded.

Immediately, Kaiyou answered, "What I mean is that you should _not_ trust him with anything. Not your heart, your life, or that book. Honestly, I wouldn't even trust him with the grime under my toe-nails." Stepping forward, she stopped partially in the shadow of a bare tree, the branches making a pattern across her face. Firmly, she continued, hearing Dagger stepping lightly through the cemetery behind her, drawing closer and coming to a stop at Kaiyou's left shoulder, "That guy's a snake. And you," Kaiyou pointed at the blonde, "are his latest Challenge."

The blonde girl shifted back slightly, "He seemed nice..." she started to say. However, the teenage boy looked relieved that his screaming territorial instincts had been correct. His Possible Girlfriend had _indeed_ been in danger from the strange man. The cat... well, the cat lashed his tail and folded his ears back, apparently not willing to trust either Gary or Kaiyou immediately.

"That's his game," Kaiyou stated, "It's the same one he starts every new place he goes- where people don't already know his name. Watch yourself with him. Don't fall for his sweet-talk. If you let him, he'll put you on a pedestal, above a bed of spikes and laugh when he shoves you off of it. He's a Heartbreaker, a Soul Destroyer, and Murderer. If you've got any self preservation instincts, you'll run from him, screaming."

"What do you know?" the blonde demanded, stepping forward slightly- already ensnared enough to defend Gary from Kaiyou's terrible truths. A Bad Sign...

Kaiyou smiled faintly, though her eyes were dead, "I know him. I've watched him sweep girls off their feet only to drop them hard enough to make them shatter. Oh, he always acts sad when they suicide, but I know it's just stage tears." Lifting her hands, she shrugged slightly, "You can do what you want, but don't say you weren't warned."

Binx, lashing his tail, finally spoke up, "And why should we trust you instead?"

Giving a shake of her head, Kaiyou looked away, meeting Dagger's gaze briefly before turning to look back at the others. "I never said that," she admitted honestly, "It's probably better that you don't." Dagger shifted, and Kaiyou knew without looking that the girl's expression was a disapproving one. Forging onwards, Kaiyou stated, "It's what resides in your hearts that matters, not what I say. Go with gut feeling- it's likely the only advice you'll be getting in the next few hours. I _can_ promise one thing-" she pointed at the book, "I _don't_ want that thing. In fact, I don't even want to touch it." She looked down and stepped back, breaking her serious tone to gasp, "Eew! It's _staring_ at me!"

Looking first down at the book, then at Kaiyou, the mage that had invited himself along on Kaiyou's journey quirked a brow, but whatever obnoxious comment he would have made was cut off when the pure silence of the graveyard was disturbed by a soft rumbling. With a flash, Kaiyou's Keyblade appeared in her hand, uncalled for, making the natives of the world gasp.

"You really _do_ have a magic sword!" Dani beamed. "Where can _I_ get one?"

Blinking, Kaiyou stared at her. "Eh...? _Nothing_ scares you, huh, kid?"

Shaking his head, the mage took over, pointing at the two teens, cat, and little girl, and ordered, "Pick up the book and don't let go of it. We'll cover you. The Heartless _cannot_ have that thing if your world is to survive." Whether that was true or not, Kaiyou didn't know, but figured that if Gary wanted it, it must be important, so she didn't argue with the mage. Turning away after seeing the blonde dive for the book and pick it up, hugging it to her chest, Kaiyou lifted her blade and looked around carefully.

The shadows were moving...

Pure instinct made her leap aside as a hand thrust up out from the shadow of a bare branch she stood in. Then, the battle was on...

* * *

_AN: If any paragraphs or sentences look odd, please tell me and they will be fixed ASAP._

_Next Chapter: The battle is on, for life or death, and Kaiyou realizes that she probably should have stuck with Donald and Goofy. Hopefully Kaiyou won't eat her allies in lieu of breakfast._


	21. Swinging at Shadows

_Chapter 21_

_(Swinging at Shadows)_

While it had been pure instinct that had kept her from harm on that first strike, Kaiyou's mind took over after that, and upon landing with one foot, she threw her weight into a spin that slammed the end of her Keyblade into the face of a Heartless that had just burst up from a bubbling black pit. These weren't like the little cricket Heartless in Twilight Town, these were larger and had longer antennae and sharper claws.

While the idea of a game of Compare and Contrast the Heartless seemed amusing, it was best left for a time when Kaiyou had, well, more time on her hands. At the moment, she was dodging back from a retaliation strike from the Heartless she'd hit. Dodging back another step, Kaiyou lifted her sword up to block the next strike, then, while the Heartless was pulling its arm back to slash its claws at her again, Kaiyou stepped forward into the opening, closing well within its reach, but also bracing her Keyblade with her weight as she drove the blade through the Heartless's chest.

While the tactic successfully killed the one Heartless, two more leapt out of the shadows at Kaiyou's back while she was distracted.

"Thunder!"

Completely blinded by the blast, Kaiyou flailed with her blade, "You _Stupid _mage!" she shouted, "You hit_ ME _with that!"

"Sorry!" the mage called back.

"Aros! Behind you!" Dagger called, and blinking blue dots from her eyes, Kaiyou swung her blade around one-handed, and managed to get a glancing blow off whatever was behind her. Squinting around her Blue-Dot-Special, Kaiyou leapt at a shadow that had turned towards the group of four that were huddling against Emily's tombstone as if a dead little girl could save them.

_'Maybe I AM dead?'_ the thought occurred to Kaiyou as she hit the Heartless dead-center in the back and turned it to black smoke, _'The last I remember of my world was the train exploding, after all.'_

_'Kaiyou! Pay attention to the BATTLE!'_ Umi snarled.

Irritated at her psychotic Voice and the mage, Kaiyou spun away to find her next unfortunate target. Still half-blinded, she saw her Idiot mage lifting his hands, "Blizzard!" he shouted, pointing his hands towards the closest Heartless to him- and still managed to miss. "Aww! I wish I had a gun!" he complained, "This magic stuff stinks."

"Protect!" Dagger shouted, throwing her own spell towards the group of natives. In a flash of light, a shell formed over them. "Shell!" she cast directly afterwards and the shield glowed softly.

Hoping that the shields would work, Kaiyou turned her attention back towards the battle as her target turned towards her. Leaping up, she chopped downwards in an overhead swing that knocked the Heartless backwards. Following that, she stepped forward and slashed its chest, making it dissipate. "Aros-" the Idiot mage started, then just cast, "Blizzard!" this time, aiming her direction.

Furious, Kaiyou let the spell hit her- seeing as how she didn't have much of a chance to dodge it. Hitting the reflection shield her clothes cast automatically, the spell split, washing out from her in a wave of frost. Turning, Kaiyou slashed the briefly frozen Heartless that had been about to attack her from behind.

_'That's twice that idiot has hit me!'_ she raged to Umi.

Helpfully, her Other voice replied, _'You can pound his face later... Donald was SO much more useful than him.'_ Kaiyou spun around, trying to find the other Heartless she knew were in the area. a Heartless leapt up from the shadows on the ground and slashed at her face before she had time to blink. Instinctively, Kaiyou threw a block, but claws still got through to rake down the side of her face, drawing blood.

Dodging to the side before the next strike could come, Kaiyou slid around behind the Heartless to hit it, but her attack was blocked, and they both sprung back, the Heartless landing crouched on a tombstone. Eyeing its yellow-eyed face, Kaiyou held her blade ready and set her feet in the ground, ready to leap forward and attack.

Seen from her peripheral vision, Kaiyou only had time to blink before a black shape darted forward, slamming hard into her side and sending her rolling. "Aros!" Dagger gasped and Kaiyou looked up, just in time to see her get hit again, knocked back towards the group of natives Kaiyou had volunteered to protect. Eyes focusing, Kaiyou realized belatedly that her anger had blinded her and the Heartless had lured her away from the group, leaving Dagger, who had no weapon, to protect herself and their charges with spells alone. Between them lay at least five Heartless, plus the one attacking Dagger, and the Idiot was on the other side, missing his targets every time he tried to cast. In the end, he was just getting chased around the cemetery.

Cursing under her breath, Kaiyou leapt to her feet and launched herself at the Heartless that stood in her way, about to attack again. Hitting it hard enough to kill it in one blow, Kaiyou dug her toes into the dirt and leapt upwards, letting the next Heartless dive forward under her- attacking where she'd been a second ago. Landing on a gravestone, she leapt again, pushing off it hard enough to rock it, and landed on her next target, blade pointed downwards. Apparently not expecting her move, the Heartless didn't have the chance to block and died, flailing. Rolling to take some of the impact, Kaiyou got her feet under her again and threw her weight to the side as the fourth Heartless attacked and missed.

Letting it go, Kaiyou caught her balance and started forward again as Dagger collapsed to her knees right in front of the shields she'd cast on the other four. "Blind!" she desperately cast on the Heartless attacking her, but apparently, it didn't need sight. Again, Kaiyou leapt and launched off a tombstone and hit the ground running- right past the last Heartless in her path as the one standing over Dagger lifted its claws to attack.

Skidding, Kaiyou slid in and blocked just as the claw came down, wincing as her foot caught on a root hidden in the grass and twisted slightly. Shoving with all her might, Kaiyou threw the Heartless back and leapt forward to attack it.

"Aros! A little _help_ over here!" the Idiot mage begged as he ran away from three Heartless that gleefully chased after him.

"Get over _here_ where I can do something, then!" she snapped at him instead, realizing that the combination of being tired, hungry, and being on an adrenaline jag had the effect of making her very cranky. She'd been _fine_ before the battle. At least the mage did what he was told and ran towards her, the three Heartless close behind him- the same three that Kaiyou had avoided in her mad dash to protect Dagger.

Dispatching her current opponent with a hard bash to the face with her blade, Kaiyou went into motion the moment the mage ran past her, rolling in behind him and slashing with her blade, hitting the three across the chests, a sharp snap in her right ankle informed her that she'd probably just done some rather serious damage to it, and the blow, unfortunately, didn't kill them. However, the bolt of Lightning the mage cast- and nearly hit Kaiyou with again- made them dissipate into black smoke when they were caught in the backlash from her reflect.

Irritated at him, but her mind on business, Kaiyou looked around to locate any remaining Heartless. Panting, she slowly straightened, and frowned. That had been a mess... She'd been relying on Dagger and the mage to help with the battle, but now that she thought on it, Dagger had said she didn't _have_ a weapon- Gary had taken it from her- and the mage, well... he didn't really have anything to bash at things with either. She'd gotten used to having the competent and capable Goofy and Donald behind her. It was a mistake she wasn't going to make again, even if she had to find the two some sturdy sticks.

With the threat apparently gone, Kaiyou finally turned around and stumbled, having to stab her Keyblade into the ground and lean on it to stay on her feet. _'Oh, that hurt,'_ she hissed, taking her weight off her right foot.

"Aros!" Dagger gasped and got to her feet, jogging over to him, "You're hurt!" she touched the blood running down Kaiyou's cheek.

Shaking her head, Kaiyou leaned away, "We've got more important things to worry about; such as finding somewhere a little easier to defend than here." She eyed the dumbstruck teens, girl, and cat, and sighed. This wasn't going to be easy...

Pushing off her sword, she lightly stepped on her right foot, and while she really didn't want to lean on Dagger, she found that she had no choice as her ankle sent a sharp stabbing pain up her leg and all the way to the back of her neck. She fell against Dagger's shoulder with a gasp. "Aros," Dagger insisted, "You push yourself too hard. At least let me heal you."

It wasn't that Kaiyou wanted to act tough- it was more that she just didn't think it was right that Dagger was fussing over her- like boyfriend-girlfriends did. Dagger had _said_ she loved someone else, but that was after they'd kissed. Flushing at the memory, Kaiyou only grunted, not wanting to admit that now that adrenaline was wearing off, her entire body hurt like heck.

Closing her eyes, Dagger took a breath and began casting her healing spell.

"Oh!" the Idiot mage grinned, "Me next!"

"You didn't even get a scratch," Dagger replied. "Aros is our only real fighter right now."

Finally, Dagger's shield spells shattered, their duration running out, and the three kids and cat breathed. "What... were those things?" the teenage boy demanded to know.

Opening her eyes and looking at him from where she leaned heavily on Dagger, Kaiyou answered, "Heartless. Is this the first time you've seen them?"

The blonde girl nodded. "Where did they come from?" she asked, still tightly clutching the Book to her chest.

"Darkness," Kaiyou stated enigmatically, not wanting to explain something she didn't really understand herself.

The Idiot mage, however, had a better answer, "Specifically, the Darkness in people's hearts. They're a crazy scientist's experiment gone horribly wrong." He folded his arms as he started up his lecture, "You see, some thirteen years ago, there was this guy named Ansem the Wise who was doing some experiments on the Heart and its properties when-"

"Hey!" Kaiyou snapped at him, "You talk too much."

Binx hissed, "What have you got to hide?" he demanded to know.

"Nothing," Kaiyou replied, "It's just, once he starts, he doesn't shut up." Or so she'd noticed in the very brief time they'd been together. He didn't even require an audience to talk to!

"There, Aros," Dagger said and stepped back, "Better now?"

Carefully settling her weight on her right foot, Kaiyou leaned on it. "Yeah," she replied, "Thanks." Taking a breath, she stated as succinctly as she could, repeating what little Donald and Goofy had told her and what she'd picked up on her own, "The Heartless are exactly as the name says: Heartless. They have no hearts and propagate themselves by stealing the hearts of people. They appear to be semi-mindless and follow the orders of Maleficent and the Organization Thirteen- the latter of which are noticeably dressed in long black coats with hoods. Have you seen them?"

Snorting, the teen boy replied, "On a night like tonight, they wouldn't be the least bit out of place." Tipping her head to the side as she wiped blood off her cheek, Kaiyou quirked a brow, encouraged, the boy continued, "It's Halloween."

Sighing, Kaiyou rolled her eyes, "Of course," she muttered, _'Lady Luck loves me so much,'_ she observed to Umi.

Stepping forward, the cat announced, "I've seen them."

All eyes turned towards Binx as he took a seat, tail-tip twitching. "They were discussing lighting the Black Flame Candle when Max," he looked towards the teenage boy, "broke in and lit it for them. I believe they said the first step of their mission was a success."

Eyeing Max, Umi stated sarcastically for Kaiyou's benefit, _'What a moron.'_

Ignoring her Other, Kaiyou shook her head, looked around, then started off. "Let's go."

Extending a hand, the blonde girl stepped forward, "Wait! Where are you going?"

Kaiyou looked back over her shoulder and stated in as deadpan a voice she could manage, "We," she corrected, lifting a finger to make a circle that included not only her companions, but also the three native kids and cat she was speaking to, "are going to kill some witches," eyeing the four, she added, "And you four are going to be my local guides."

Mentally, Umi finished what Kaiyou would have said if she'd wanted to get punched by Max, _'Only fair, considering that We're doing you a favor and YOU partially caused the problem. –you know, Kaiyou, this is why I say you shouldn't BOTHER helping people. They make messes and then after you've helped them out once, they EXPECT you to clean up the consequences afterwards. That's what's gotten you into trouble so often, you know, people taking advantage of your kindness.'_

"You haven't even told us your names yet," Dani objected- though it was a reasonable request, the tone of voice she'd used made Kaiyou want to just walk off without telling them anything.

A moment passed and Kaiyou looked around their little group, and she realized suddenly that she didn't know the mage's name- and he was staring at her expectantly. Turning to face the three kids, she stated, "That's Dagger, he's an idiot, and you can call me Aros."

"What!" the mage objected, "My name's Laguna!"

Turning away again, Kaiyou started off.

"Wait!" Max objected and she stopped again with a sigh at the tediousness of all this introduction-type stuff. "I'm Max, this is my little sister Dani, and she's Allison."

"I'm Binx," Binx finished, though Kaiyou had already picked up his name from eavesdropping.

"Alright. And while we're standing here exchanging names, phone numbers, and life stories, the Heartless are probably running around stealing people's hearts, and a trio of witches are eating the children's souls, and a pair of Organization members are stealing the Nobodies that are left." Kaiyou pointed out sourly, the delays and Umi's peanut gallery comments pushing her beyond the limits of her patience, "Can we get going now?"

"Geez, he's impatient..." Max muttered.

Laguna sighed, "Not really like Sora at all."

Furious, Kaiyou turned and launched herself at Laguna, fingers latching onto the mage's robes and yanking him down to look in the eyes, "You- _shut up_! I don't want to hear another word about Sora- I don't even want to hear you _breathe_ like you're going to say that name. Is that clear?"

Eyes wide, Laguna nodded slightly and Kaiyou released him, stepping back and turning away, "Besides, I was doing fine till _you_ came in," she grumped, "I was going to tell them. Now they probably think I'm working for Maleficent or something."

Laguna lifted a finger, "You're not?" he asked innocently enough.

Swinging around, Kaiyou aimed a kick at him, but allowed him to jump back and dodge her effortless retaliation, "Of course I'm not!" she snapped, "_Why_ would I want to work for an old _hag_ with no morals," she ticked off the points on her fingers as she spoke, "for _no_ pay in a job with _no_ possibility for promotion unless I knocked off said Old Hag?" Dropping her hands, she stomped onwards.

_'Kaiyou... when was your last PMS?'_ Umi asked helpfully.

_'...uh...'_

Pushing aside the disturbing thought, Kaiyou looked towards Max and Allison, who took the lead with Dani between them, "We'd better get back to town and find Mom and Dad and warn them," Dani suggested.

"Yeah," Max agreed, looking worried.

"Where do you think _you're_ going?" a voice from above called, and Kaiyou summoned her Keyblade again, then scowled as she found her three opponents too high in the air to attack.

* * *

_AN: Please tell me if anything in this chapter looks odd. Sometimes FF.n eats paragraphs. thank you!_

_Next Chapter: As if the fight before weren't enough, and nearly dying before that, Kaiyou has no choice but to continue to fight until it either kills her or she kills it. At this rate, the former is more likely to happen._


	22. Still More Fighting

_Chapter 22 _

_(Still More Fighting)_

Light from the full moon above flickered through the high-flying clouds, catching on the dew that had settled on the fallen leaves of autumn amidst the gravestones of the three-hundred year-old cemetery the group stood in. Kaiyou stood with her Keyblade in hand, frowning up at the three women who were unmistakably witches. After all, they were riding flying brooms.

The redhead, obvious leader of the group, gestured arrogantly with one hand as she ordered, "Sarah!" Immediately, the blonde witch split off to the left then the redhead called, "Mary!" Obediently, the overweight brunet split off to the right in a flanking maneuver.

"Winifred!" Binx gasped, tail lashing in fury as he folded his ears back, yellow eyes wide and full of fire.

Smirking, the redhead floated down closer as she looked over the group, "Thackery Binx, thou mangy feline! Still alive?" she taunted.

Hissing, Binx shouted back, "And waiting for you!"

Coyly, Winnie rolled her eyes and replied, "Oh! Thou hast waited in vain!" Lifting a finger, she twirled it at them all, "And thou will fail to save thy friends, just as thou failed to save thy sister!"

Remembered pain twitched through Kaiyou's heart and she stepped forward, immediately taking Binx's side, "You underestimate him, _hag_, he's had three hundred years to think of what he's going to do to you!"

"Ahh," Winnie murmured and floated down even closer, "The Keybrat I was warned about." Looking Kaiyou over, she murmured, "Not much to you, is there?" she snorted, and Kaiyou jerked her chin up, not at all stung by her insult. "Book!" Winnie trilled, as if calling a favored pet and Allison yelped as the book jerked in her arms. Taking better hold of it, she ducked behind Max.

"Wait!" Max said, "They can't touch us here, right?"

"_They_ can't," Kaiyou said at the same time as Binx.

Max swallowed whatever else he'd intended to say, apparently remembering their quite recent run-in with the Heartless.

Lifting both her hands this time, Winnie rose back into the air and chanted, "Unfaithful lover, long since dead, deep asleep in thy wormy bed- wiggle thy toes, open thine eyes, twist thy fingers towards the sky! Life is sweet, be not too shy! On thy feet, so sayeth I!" as she spoke, the ground began to shake and Dagger stumbled closer to Kaiyou, gripping the other girl's belt in an effort to stay on her feet. Allison had done the same to Max, and Dani was forced to cling to Laguna, who seemed to actually enjoy being looked to for support and beamed cheerfully despite the situation.

With shocking force, the dirt beneath a gravestone burst upwards, landing in clods spread across the ground, and from the depths, a hand reached up. With rotting fingers, the newly raised zombie grabbed the edge of its grave and slowly heaved itself up out of the ground, matted black hair hanging around its withered face.

Gleefully, Sara wiggled her fingers, "Hi Billy!" she giggled.

Pointing towards the children plus cat and mage, Winnie ordered, "Catch those children!"

Looking up, the Zombie made a rude gesture. Furious, Winnie shouted, "Get up! Get out of that ditch! _Faster_!" and she hurried her minion with a crackle of electricity, shot from her long sharp nails.

Resolutely, Billy Bucherson climbed from his grave, and absurdly, made an effort to dust his rotting rags of three-hundred year old clothes.

"Mary! Sarah!" Winnie shouted, "Attack!"

As one, the sisters dived in, and with no other choice, Kaiyou shouted, "Dagger, take Dani and Allison and cast defense! Idiot," she pointed at Laguna, "Go with them and cast offense!"

Immediately, Dagger released Kaiyou's belt, grabbed Dani's arm and ducked beneath Mary as the witch went overhead. Allison wasn't quite as fast. Dodging to the side, she dropped the book as she tripped. Desperately, Allison snatched up the only thing she could find and stood, swinging the branch at Mary. Shrieking, the witch pulled up. Directly behind her, though, was Billy, and he stumbled forward as Allison dived for the book.

"Allison, run!" Max said as he heroically stepped between her and the Zombie.

Swooping in from the other side, Sarah dove past, her intended targets the persons of Dagger and Dani. In mid-stride, Dagger turned, flinging a hand back, "Blind!" she cast and black smog formed in front of Sarah's eyes. Shrieking, the witch waved her hands in her face, pulling to a stop.

"This way!" Binx called, and Dagger grabbed up Dani again, hurrying after the cat as he ran towards the back of the cemetery. Allison took off afterwards.

Kaiyou looked towards Laguna, "Go," she told him, "Max and I'll cover the retreat! You protect the girls."

Brows raising, the mage nodded and turned, dodging through the gravestones and trees after the girls and cat. "Max!" Dani shrieked, "Max!"

"Get the book!" Kaiyou snapped as Max fell back. Billy took that moment to make a lunge for the boy. Diving to the ground, Max snagged the book as Winnie's bolt of electricity seared the ground nearby. Terrified, Max rolled to his feet and scrambled after the others, Kaiyou jogging half sideways at his flank, facing Mary who'd screwed up the courage to come down again after the scratching she'd received from Allison. Lifting her hands, Mary shouted, "Hah!" as she threw electricity from her fingertips.

Her shot hit dead on and Kaiyou staggered from the impact, pain lancing through her stomach, but the majority of the effect crackled off around her in an arc, hitting a nearby bush and setting it alight. Not bothering to gloat, Kaiyou returned fire by leaping up as high as she could and taking a swing at Mary's broom. Her Keyblade only caught the witch's trailing dress, but her attacker was sufficiently frightened to retreat higher.

"Max! Aros!" Dani shrieked again and Kaiyou turned away, releasing her blade back to wherever it went when she didn't need it and dived into the hole past Dani. Still pursued by Billy, Max dodged beneath a branch, then turned, grabbing it as the zombie approached. Pulling the limb back, Max smirked as Billy paused, looking confused- then his eyes widened as understanding dawned.

Releasing the branch, Max pumped his fist when it sprung back and knocked the zombie's head off. Max hissed in triumph, "Yes!" then turned and followed the others into the darkness.

The darkness within their hiding place was quite deep, and when Max brought out his lighter, everyone flinched. "Max," Allison whispered, "Are you okay?" Her hand lifted to touch a light scratch on his cheek.

Pretending to be tough, Max replied, "Yeah. I don't think that Zombie will be following us too closely. I knocked his head off." Kaiyou turned partially to look at the boy, then rolled her eyes and didn't bother pointing out that the Zombie wasn't that big of a threat. A two-year-old could have outrun him. However, if Max could win Allison's heart, she was safe from Gary, so Kaiyou let him brag.

_'Then again, fighting zombies wasn't part of my everyday routine till coming here,'_ she thought absently.

"Binx, where is this?" Max asked, changing the subject.

Only the yellow eyes reflecting in the darkness told the group where Binx was, and the cat only looked back briefly, "The old Salem Crypt. It connects to the sewer and leads under the street."

Faintly, Allison murmured, "Oh, charming..."

Shivering with more than cold, Kaiyou peered around, just as Max said, "Dani, don't look up," as he raised the lighter higher, its weak light glittering off trails of slime and spider webs.

Terrified, Dani gulped and clung to the arm holding the book. "Okay," she squeaked.

Shuffling with Dani, the book, and lighter, Max said, "Here," and handed the book to Allison, "Take this?" The girl nodded immediately and took it from him.

In as reassuring a voice he could manage, Binx said, "Don't worry! I've been hunting mice down here for years!"

That only made Allison turn gray, "Mice?" she wheezed, "Oh God..."

Laughing, Laguna replied, "Mice are kind of cute, actually. Why, when I was a kid, I used to have little white mice. Well, I fed them to my pet snake, but, still-"

"Ugh!" Allison gagged.

"Shut up," Kaiyou reached over and slapped his stomach, "She doesn't _like_ mice!"

Folding his ears down, Binx looked back again, "We need to get going! This way." With that, he trotted off, disappearing into the dark. Blindly, the group moved onwards, Dagger keeping close beside Kaiyou, Laguna walking at the back of the group, and the three natives in the center.

* * *

Furious, Winnie shrieked as Billy toppled to his knees and started feeling around on the ground, trying to find his head, which had rolled off quite a ways and fetched up against a gravestone- his nose in the dirt.

"Oh! Cheese and crust! He's lost his head!" Winnie howled. "Curse that Thackery Binx! Curse him! Billy! Which way did they go?"

Finally locating his head, the zombie picked it up and turned it around, finally figuring out which way it was supposed to go back on. Flipping his hair out of his face as he sat up, Billy stared up at Winnie as she floated down, leaning over her broom menacingly, "Listen you maggot museum," she hissed, "Follow those children, and get my book! Then come find us!"

For a long moment, Billy didn't answer, just narrowed his yellowed eyes at her. "Quit staring at me and get down that hole!" Winnie ordered him, jabbing a finger in the direction of the crypt entrance. When he got moving, she shouted, "Broom Ho!" lifting higher, "This way, sisters!"

The blinding spell having worn off, Sarah rubbed her face and looked at Mary. Sighing, they said, "Broom ho!" and followed Winnie towards the cemetery gates.

Landing outside on the sidewalk, Winnie set her broom against the wall next to the bench that was set near the cemetery gates, then stepped closer to the gate to clutch the bars, "Mary!" she called and her sister immediately stepped up, sniffing at the air.

"I- I- I can't smell them, Winnie!" Mary whined, looking pleadingly at her sister, "They've gone too far!"

Furious, Winnie turned away and shook her fists in the air, "Curse them!" she howled at the moon as Sara cheerfully grinned and bounced in circles around Winnie.

"Oh! Oh, Winnie! I had an idea!" Sara breathed, coming to a stop, "Why don't we call the Heartless!" she giggled clapping, "They can catch the kids!"

Rounding on her sister, Winnie grabbed Sarah's neck, squeezing, "Because!" she hissed, "You imbecile! I don't _trust_ the Heartless! They probably want my book for themselves!" Desperately, Sarah clutched at Winnie's hand, then gasped for air when Winnie shoved her away. "We'll call the Heartless- but we will set them loose on the town and tell them to kidnap the children of Salem! In the meantime... _we_ will chase those _brats_ with my book!"

Dramatically swinging her cloak, Winnie turned to grab her broom from where she'd leaned it against the cemetery wall, "We _fly_!" she ordered.

"Wait! Winnie," Mary called, "I have an idea. Let's form ... the Calming Circle."

Scowling, the redhead witch shouted, "I _am_ calm!"

Smiling knowingly, Mary collected Winnie and Sarah's brooms and set them against the wall beside the bench.

* * *

_AN: bleh, yet another large block of scripted stuff, but not as bad as ch19. Next chapter has more original stuff and PLOT in it! Hehee! Again, if ff.n ate a paragraph or something, please tell me! It's been rather obnoxious about stuff lately._

_Next Chapter: Roxas!_


	23. Breaking, Entering, & Gross Socks

_Chapter 23 _

_(Breaking, Entering, & Gross Socks)_

"Hey, Roxas," Axel said as they stepped out of the room they'd tied up a gagged and sobbing Demyx in.

Disturbed beyond expression, Roxas turned towards Axel with a dumbstruck look that made the redhead burst out laughing, throwing back his head to cackle in the halls that echoed back his explosion hollowly. Mind rebooting, Roxas fumed and aimed a kick at Axel's shin, "Loud mouth! Shut up before someone comes!"

Stuffing his fist into his mouth, Axel tried to quiet down and leaned weakly against the wall. Finally gasping for air, Axel shook his head, "That... is why I hang out with you," the Flame Lord said cheerfully, "You make me laugh and think that I really mean it." Wiping his eyes, he straightened.

"And _you_ confuse me," Roxas admitted then shook his head, "You were going to say something."

Pausing for a long moment as he tried to recall, hand on his chin, Axel finally lifted a finger, "Ah!" he said at last, "I think we should go to the dungeons and see if we can bust Kairi out."

Roxas sighed and rolled his eyes as he turned away, "I'd figured that was a given," he muttered and headed for the main hall, which was, coincidentally named- with a little plaque on the wall on either end- "The Path to Destruction", because the torture chambers were down there too. Only Xemnas and Vexen really liked playing in those, though. The others may have not had hearts, but they couldn't even pretend to find enjoyment in torturing lower level Nobodies and other captives. However, the recollection gave Roxas the shivers and after sneaking a peek both ways, he stepped out into the hall.

"We should hurry. Wouldn't want Xemnas to get any ideas about that Iron Maiden he's got stashed down there..." Axel added, as if reading Roxas's mind, and stepped past the shorter boy, heading on the way they'd been going in the first place.

Kicking himself mentally, the blonde jogged to catch up then passed Axel, who of course had to make it into a race, and chased after, close on the teenage boy's heels.

* * *

Roxas stood back, watching the hall behind them while Axel fussed with the lock on the door into the dungeons, and couldn't help but recall his short life here in the Castle that Never Was.

It wasn't exactly that he missed the place. He certainly didn't miss the feeling of Not Quite Belonging. Nor did he miss the feeling of emotional numbness that was the main feature of his life as a Nobody. But... then again, that numbness had given him the chance to do some rather amusing things without the fear of guilt later...

"What're you sniggering about?" Axel grunted, not looking over.

Breaking into a grin, Roxas replied, "Remember that time we locked Demyx in the Lavatory of No Return?"

Axel laughed in a very disturbing manner. "He learned not to use our socks for polishing rags, that's for sure.

"I _still_ say we should have given him a swirly in the Skanky Toilet Bowl of Endlessness," Roxas replied.

"Gee! I guess I was wrong about you!" Axel murmured in amazement. "I'd honestly thought that contact with that goody-two-shoes Sora would have mellowed your sadistic streak."

Briefly, Roxas looked back and met Axel's gaze and smirked, "Oh- _no!_ Where'd you think I _got_ it from?" The devilish smile widened and Roxas finished with, "He just _hides_ it better!"

Laughing once more, Axel turned back to jiggling the lock, and finally, it clicked open. It wasn't that the Organization was so confident that they could leave their dungeons unattended, but more like... they were understaffed and Nobodies just didn't make very good guards. Not that it had been all that easy for Axel to pick the lock either.

Pushing the door open, the redhead stepped into the hall of prison cells. The hall was fairly wide and lined on one wall with floor to ceiling bars that were nearly thick enough to call columns. The ceiling was perhaps sixteen feet high, and Roxas shook his head once more at the design choices in the castle. Really, what was the point? It wasn't like Xemnas ever put twelve-foot trolls in his dungeons, and certainly even if he did, why go to the effort of making them able to stand up comfortably?

Stepping in behind the redhead, Roxas sighed, "I wish we could have just opened a portal."

"Sorry, bro," Axel said, "They've got this place locked now. Apparently only someone with the key can 'port in and out of here."

"_Roxas_!" a voice from down the hall shouted. "Roxas! Is that you? You _came_!"

"Namine!"

Breaking into a run, Roxas headed down the rows of cells to the pale arms and delicate hands that were reaching out between the bars. At the cell, Roxas skidded to a stop, catching the girl's hands and breaking into a grin. "Namine, Kairi" he greeted both the girls who were sharing a body, "You're alright!" And, because it wasn't possible for him to _not_ notice, Roxas's eyes quickly skimmed over Kairi's clothes, taking note of the pink two-piece swimsuit beneath her front-zipped sky-blue thigh length sundress. She's apparently been quite eager to head out to the beach with her two guy-friends the day she'd been kidnapped.

"Roxas," King Mickey greeted as he stood from where he'd been sitting- unnoticed by Roxas- against the back wall, "How are you here? What happened to Sora?" Sparing only a brief look at the mouse, Roxas found him to be wearing a slightly casual red short sleeved shirt with a yellow vest and usual red shorts.

Looking back to Kairi, the blonde found the same question in her eyes, and smiling, Roxas replied as Axel approached, "Sora's fine. We split up voluntarily. I've got a physical presence, but none of the powers of a Nobody."

"Roxas! Behind you-" Kairi gasped, trying to take a step back, but Roxas held onto her hands. Looking back, Roxas sighed in relief as he only found Axel standing behind him.

Reassuringly, he shook his head, "Look," Axel said, "Sorry about kidnapping you, Kairi, but... well..." he gestured at Roxas, "I just wanted to see him again. Okay? We're on the same side now." With wide questioning eyes, Kairi looked to Roxas for a confirmation of that statement.

Going further than just a nod, the blonde added, "How else do you think I got in here?"

Heaving a sigh and shaking her head, Kairi relaxed, and again Namine smiled, "I'm so glad you're alright. Just a little while ago, Xemnas came in here and said that he and Maleficent were about ready to spring their trap on Sora and destroy him!" Her bright blue eyes watered slightly and she looked down, "So we managed to break out, but then Mickey and I got caught and Riku promised he'd come back for us, with Sora."

Lips pulling down, Roxas shook his head, "You didn't escape," he sighed, unhappy to burst her bubble, "Riku is being used by Xemnas as a pawn. But for what, I don't know." He closed his eyes briefly, then lifted his gaze again to Namine's leaning forward slightly, "But Sora was fine last I saw him, and Xemnas may be confused because there's apparently another Sora running around."

Kairi shook her head slightly, "Another?" she asked, "Aren't there enough of you?" she laughed.

Roxas smirked, "Yeah, we have a tendency to multiply, but that's an issue for later." Axel was biting his knuckles, trying not to laugh too loudly. Belatedly, Roxas blushed, rewinding what he'd just said to Kairi/Namine of all people.

_She_ of course seemed completely oblivious to the innuendo, and clearing his throat, Roxas hurried for a change of subject. "Ah- Mickey! Um- the books! The green books. What's up with them?"

Stepping up beside Kairi, the mouse sighed in relief, "You found them? Good. Don't let Xemnas or Maleficent get them!"

"Er..." Roxas coughed softly, "Well, you see, Sora's copy-cat has the other one. Sora's got the diary Pluto gave us. What was in the other book, and who's Diary is it?"

Mickey's ears folded, "The other book was written by Ansem the Wise. I was looking through the Radiant Garden castle when I found it in one of Ansem's old labs. It's the diagrams for a Heart Capturing gun, and with a few further calculations... it might actually work, since it doesn't actually encode the hearts it captures into data like Ansem's later projects did. This gun sucks the hearts out of people and turns them into a sort of energy that can be used to power numerous other projects Xehanort had started working on."

Kairi's fingers had gone cold in his hands, and Roxas gently squeezed them. "We'll get the book back," Roxas promised, "But what about the diary?"

Looking away briefly, Mickey admitted, "I honestly don't know, but... I was cautiously exploring one of the new worlds that had opened when I saw some Heartless carrying a green book that looked just like the one with the weapon diagrams in it. Only after defeating them did I realize that it was not the same book, but still... I can't exactly explain what it felt like, but, I- I think I can cautiously classify the book as a Door. When I got it back to my library, I was working on decoding the writing in it. I'd gotten nearly done, except even after that, I realized that it was still written in some sort of dialect. Only half the words were actually understandable."

Mickey took a breath and lifted his gaze, "Even without the problem of translating it, the words seemed to squirm on the page- like trying to read in a dream. When I got attacked by the Heartless in the library, I threw the book to Pluto and told him to take it to Sora, but the Heartless shredded my notes on the code. The other book, I knocked off my desk and kicked under it."

"Well," Roxas said reassuringly, "Someone put it back in the shelf. At least, that's what Minnie said. That's where Aros got it from."

"Aros?" Mickey asked.

"What Sora and I are calling Sora's imposter," Roxas explained, then stepped back slightly, "But we're wasting time. We need to figure out how to get you out of here."

Poking Roxas in the back of the head, Axel pointed out, "No can do. The Portals are locked here."

"Mickey- can't you use your key?" Roxas asked.

Shaking his head, Mickey could only shrug, "I've got nothing to aim at."

"And I can't even access the Darkness to give you something to aim at," Axel admitted. "Not even to get me and Roxas out of this hall."

Resolutely, Mickey stated, "We seem to be alright in here. I'll take care of Kairi, you go make sure Sora is alright and figure out what to do about the Organization and Maleficent. Maybe find some way to sabotage their agreement."

Roxas gave a firm nod, "Alright," he agreed, then looked into Namine's eyes, "I'll be back, promise!"

Smiling, she squeezed his hands, "Alright. Be careful!"

Kairi quickly added, "And tell Sora I'm okay."

Reluctantly, the blonde released her hands and stepped back, "Will do."

Turning away, the tall redhead and short blonde headed back down the hall, towards the door that was still standing partially opened.

Axel was chuckling.

Scowling at him, the short blonde replied, "_What_ in all creation do you find so funny?"

"...Roxas is in _looove_!" Axel teased, then jogged away as Roxas summoned his Keyblades.

"You'd _BETTER_ run, you _punk_!"

* * *

"Ah! Here we are!" Binx announced and stopped at a ladder that was barely visible in the pitch darkness illuminated by Max's lighter.

Max turned towards them, "I'll see if the coast is clear," he said, and Kaiyou wasn't going to argue with him about that. After all, this _was_ his world, and if he felt like putting his life in danger, he was more than welcome to do so. Just so long as he didn't get the book stolen from them...

Turning, he set foot on the ladder, then yelped as Binx suddenly leapt up and latched onto the back of his denim jacket and hauled himself to Max's shoulder. "Hey!" Dani stated, "Max! Leave the light, would you?"

Pausing to look over the group, Max finally handed his lighter to Allison, who relit it, and then, with Binx balancing on his shoulder, the brunet teen climbed the slimy ladder up to the street.

Kaiyou nearly jumped out of her skin as a flash of light from her palm formed into her Keyblade, and looking up the ladder, she called, "Hurry up, Max. We've got company down here!"

Light from above pierced down into the dark hole briefly and was shadowed by a furry body- then the manhole cover clanged down. "Oh god!" Max gasped, "Binx!" the manhole cover rattled twice, then the light appeared again.

"Binx?" Dani gasped, not waiting for her brother to fully clear the ladder before swarming up it on Max's heels as he climbed out.

Laguna planted a hand on Kaiyou's shoulder and whispered, "You go ahead, there's no room for you to swing that down here."

Figuring that to be a sound strategy, despite the fact that Laguna couldn't aim, Kaiyou figured that he was more likely to hit an enemy than a friend if he kept his back towards his friends. Gesturing for Allison to wait, Kaiyou said softly, "There's heartless around, I'll secure the street level, you come up after me, Dagger next." Darting up the ladder, Kaiyou cleared from the hole and looked around in all directions before turning to look. Dani was sobbing against Max's chest. Max looked gray.

Allison, upon climbing up, gasped. "Oh- Binx!" she breathed and finally, after being slapped on the calf from below, cleared the ladder and stood beside Max and Dani.

"It's my fault," Max whispered, though how he figured that wasn't quite clear.

Pale and shaking, Kaiyou stepped back a step, then another, shivering- for it wasn't Binx she was seeing squashed flat on the road.

_'Oh Beel! I failed you!'_

Closing her eyes, Kaiyou lifted her left hand to press her arm across her face, flashes of memory- something she'd thought she'd Forgotten- crossed her darkened eyelids.

_...Rain in October..._ She remembered the cold, cold darts of water slashing down from the sky.

_Beelzebub, broken and destroyed on the dishtowel in front of her knees-_ oh how much it hurt!

_...Sora sitting next to her?_ How did he get there?

_"I WANT to know who you are!"_ he said urgently.

_"No you don't..."_ she told him.

"Kaiyou?" Dagger whispered softly, too low for anyone else to hear.

The already fragmented images shattered and scattered into the corners of her mind, beyond immediate recall- where they belonged- and Kaiyou gasped for breath, dropping her arm to look at Dagger.

_"Promise me-"_ Sora's voice echoed in her head as the last piece of the Forgotten Memory skittered out of reach. What _had_ she promised? Guilt gripped her heart as she tried to remember the promise he'd asked her to make. _'Did I keep it?'_ she wanted to know, but Umi wasn't answering. Umi... seemed busy.

"Binx is okay," the princess said softly, taking Kaiyou's left hand between her own and arresting Kaiyou's attention, "He can't die," she smiled, "It's alright."

Looking towards the cat, she found him perfectly fine, lashing his tail in eagerness to get going.

In fact... _Everyone_ was staring at her.

Kaiyou blushed, "I- sorry. No- I'm just tired- been on the go since this morning. I need food," she grumbled softly, the last had been mostly to Dagger.

Immediately smiling, Dagger nodded, "Yeah, Toontown was a rather energetic place. When's the last time you ate?"

Looking away, she admitted, "Yesterday... morning..."

Eyes widening, Dagger drew herself to her full height of five-four and said loudly, "Aros! You should take better care of yourself than that!"

Stepping away, Kaiyou replied, "Sorry! I just didn't have time to eat. What do you expect me to do? Beg Benny to go through the drive thru while we're being chased by a car full of gun-wielding Heartless Weasel Henchmen of Doom?" Dani slapped her hands over her mouth, trying not to laugh too loudly. The sad part, Kaiyou realized, was that she wasn't exaggerating. "I'll be fine! I've done without for longer," Kaiyou finished, "Let's _go_!"

Nodding agreeably, the group turned to continue on their quest to find Dani and Max's parents, and Kaiyou couldn't help but observe under her breath as she walked past Dani, "Now that I think on it ...my life has gotten _so_ weird..."

It was an observation that sent the redhead into infectious giggles.

* * *

_AN: yay. Less scripted stuff this time. Lots of important information, and NEXT chapter, we find out what Sora's been up to!_

_yet again- if any paragraphs or sentences look odd, please tell me and they will be fixed ASAP._


	24. Memory of a Promise

_Chapter 24 _

_(Memory of a Promise)_

"Well," Sora stated as he stared out the front window of his ship, "there's only one world they could have gone to from here." Firmly, he jabbed a finger at their map, "That one!"

Donald leaned closer, Goofy staring over Sora's shoulder. Khimari was quite talented in appearing uninterested and remained standing at the back of the room, guarding the door that led to the bunk rooms and kitchen- as if anyone would come in through there when everyone was already on the bridge. Picking at his lip, Goofy had to ask, "Uh, why do you say _that_ Sora?"

"Because," Sora grinned, "Aros opened the path to it! All the other worlds should be closed off except where Aros, Roxas, and I go."

Suspicious, Donald turned to eye Sora, "You never did exshplain how we're shupposhed to know if you're the _real_ Shora," he pointed out.

Surprised, Sora backed up a step, putting a little distance between himself and the other two. "Oh, come _on_!" he sighed, "You _had_ to have noticed that there was _something_ wrong with Aros!"

"Gawrsh, Sora," Goofy started, "I thought he was a bit short for a boy your age, but he was taller than the last time we'd seen ya..."

Thumping his fists on his hips, Donald stomped a foot, still not convinced.

Sora slapped a hand to his forehead, "Ah!" he groaned, "How's this! I'll tell you something only _I_ would know!" He pondered on that for a long moment, folding his arms and tapping his foot as he thought hard. "Oh!" Straightening to his full height, Sora pushed his shoulders back and stated, "You remember the first time we met? Donald, you said that you'd help me find Kairi and Riku- but you said that I had to smile, because there wouldn't be any frowns on this journey!" Donald didn't look convinced so Sora continued, "So I smiled like _this_!" Leaning forward, Sora pulled his lips back and crossed his eyes.

As one, Donald and Goofy burst out laughing.

It took them nearly five minutes to recover before Goofy gasped and sat up from the floor, "Gawrsh, Donald, Yen Sid _did_ say that there wasn't anything wrong with Sora's memory. I guess he _is_ Sora."

"Then Arosh ish a Fake!" Donald announced and leapt to his feet, flailing his arms, "Wahhhgh!" he fumed, "That meansh he _lied_ to ush!"

Sora glanced away briefly, frowning slightly as he thought, then finally came to a decision and turned to Donald, "Then let's catch up to him so he can apologize," he stated.

Enthusiastically, Goofy climbed to his feet and lifted a fist, "Yeah!" he cheered.

Again, Donald didn't look convinced, and Sora pointed out, "I really don't think he's bad- just... confused. Maybe he doesn't have a name of his own and you called him 'Sora' and gave him an identity?" Spreading his hands, Sora smiled slightly, "I'm willing to forgive him. After all, he's really helped out a lot of people. Look at Toontown!"

Reluctantly, the duck nodded, "Awwhrite," Donald sighed.

"Besides," Sora stated as he headed towards the pilot's seat, "There's a girl I'm looking for too- and she's with Aros! And I promised Hayner, Pence, and Olette that I'd bring Aros back so he could apologize to them too."

"Gawrsh, Sora," Goofy sighed, "I'm sorry we didn't see that he wasn't you to start with..."

Immediately flashing a smile at them as he turned the pilot's chair and took a seat, Sora shrugged, "It's alright! You hadn't seen me in a year! You guys ready to go? We should hurry and catch up with them before they get too far. At least Laguna is with them, he'll probably try to stall and give us time." He _hoped_ anyway. He also _hoped_ that Laguna didn't do something irreversible to Aros or the Girl with his bad aim.

"Sora!" Goofy gasped and pointed.

Looking first at Goofy to see that the dog-man was pointing at something, Sora then followed the line of Goofy's finger and looked down at his hip, or more specifically, at his side-pack which was glowing. Opening the pack, he pulled out the green book as Donald and Goofy crowded closer, squinting at the glowing pages. Shocked, but also curious, Sora opened the book and flipped through the sparkling pages, finally coming to the one that had the picture of the kitten taped to it. Gasping, he watched in fascination as the words unscrambled-

-And suddenly, everything went white.

* * *

Rapidly blinking, Sora lifted his hands to shade his eyes from the bright white light that surrounded him, even as he tried to look around and find the source.

_"Who are you?"_ a voice demanded.

Squinting, he called back, "Sora! Who're you?"

_"So trusting,"_ the voice, female, replied. _"How did you get here?"_

Confused, Sora could only shake his head and answer, "I don't know! I just opened the book and now I'm here!"

_"Opened the book!"_ the voice gasped.

A shadow formed, long blonde hair floating around her form as she walked through the light towards him. She stopped, ten feet away, her features hidden by the brightness, surrounded by a halo of hair, she wore white and metal spikes that reflected the light blinding him further before the light began to dim slightly- or his eyes got used to it. The girl that stood before him was about five-foot-seven with straight blonde hair down to her hips, it was tucked back behind her round ears, displaying her ocean blue eyes and irritated expression. She wore a white Chinese styled dress with split sides up to her hips, the bottom hem ending at mid thighs. She wore white thigh-high boots, white gloves, and silver spikes that were definitely not for decoration.

_"I see..."_ she murmured, _"You are the one..."_

She paused briefly and took a breath.

_"I have what you need,"_ she said, _"But you have to defeat me to take it. If you can't defeat me, then you're not strong enough- not worthy of protecting my Other. If you're not strong enough, you're nothing to us. I will not allow my Other to be hurt by you! Now FIGHT!"_

Unexpectedly, the girl leapt at him, lashing out with a spike adorned fist. Yelping, Sora dodged back, calling his Keyblade as the girl followed him with another step forward and following punch. Knocking her arm away with a block, Sora retaliated by hitting the girl across the stomach with a hard slash.

Staggering back, she regained her balance even though it was too late, for Sora was upon her again slashing downwards from a high leap. Throwing her weight to the right, the girl dodged his attack and got her feet under her, crouching.

Like a spring, she launched off the ground, ducking beneath Sora's arms and landing a solid hit on his left shoulder, her spikes puncturing skin, drawing blood. Sora backed away from her quickly then dived back in before she had the chance to recover her balance. Using only one hand, Sora slashed at her head. Swiftly, she ducked and spun, swinging a foot out as she did, nearly catching his leading foot. Nimbly, Sora leapt over her kick and upon landing again, closed the distance in two strides. His next hit slashed the sharp side of his sword across her stomach, cutting the white cloth of her dress, which quickly darkened with red.

She hardly seemed to notice and blocked his next swing with one of her spiked bracers. Twisting free, they both leapt back, putting some distance between them. _"You're not even trying! You don't want to save Aros at all, do you?"_ the girl demanded.

Eyes widening, Sora had to ask, "Save Aros from what?"

_"Himself!"_

The girl sprang forward again and Sora put his full strength into his swing, connecting hard with the girl's shoulder.

With a sickening crunch, she collapsed to the floor and rolled away. Lifting her water blue eyes to meet his, she slowly stood, then straightened proudly, despite the limp hang of her left shoulder.

Silence fell- a heavy silence that hissed in Sora's ears.

It was a silence that lasted for nearly a full minute, neither daring to move to begin the fight again, both panting for air.

"I beat you," Sora announced finally, taking the initiative.

The girl stared at him hard, then lifted her hand, grasping a diamond-shaped pendant at her neck, and threw it at him.

Releasing his Keyblade, Sora reflexively caught the clear crystal gem then stared down at it- recognizing it, but not immediately knowing where he'd seen it before.

"Ah-" Sora began, but the light flashed, blinding him once more, and when it cleared, he found himself fully healed and standing in what looked to be a run-down older section of a sprawling suburb with incredibly tall buildings in the distance.

Specifically, he found himself in someone's backyard...

...in the rain.

Thunder rumbled overhead, distant- in the clouds, but still a danger to any who wished to stand outside in the cold nearly frozen rain. While Sora at first considered heading for the back porch of the backyard he now stood in, the sound of a wet cough caught his attention, and he slowly looked around the leaf-strewn garden. Judging by the chill of the rain and state of the plants, Sora took a rough guess and decided it was fall, perhaps October. The trees planted along the back of the backyard, in front of the privacy fence, were turning brilliant colors, and the flowerbeds were all brown and dead-looking, though they appeared to have been quite well tended during the warmer months.

Cautiously, Sora shifted his weight and stepped forward, squishing in the soggy grass as another wet sob reached his hearing. Finally locating the source, Sora swallowed his shout, the scene impacting him with all the force of a brick in a sock.

Aros, sitting in a puddle of mud, was bent over what was left of a black and white kitten which had been lain out on what had likely been a good dishtowel. The boy's hair was drenched and hanging limply in his face, his clothes soaked. Stepping forward more carefully, Sora tried to take a closer look without frightening the poor grieving boy. Aros just lifted a hand and wiped at his nose with his sleeve, either not caring that Sora was there, or not realizing. The hand Aros had lifted sank down to his chest, joining his left where it was already clutching the necklace charm that hung at his throat. He coughed again.

"Aros..." Sora whispered, then cleared his throat, trying to speak more loudly, "Aros?" It hardly seemed as if he'd spoken at all. He swallowed, trying to wet his throat.

The boy did not look up.

Stepping closer, Sora approached carefully, and knelt, lifting a hand to touch Aros's hair and hesitated before making contact. Still, Aros didn't react. "Hey..." Sora said softly, and leaned closer, recognizing the blue tint to Aros's lips and the pale swollen fingers. The boy had been sitting out in the rain for quite some time, apparently.

"They said _I_ did it," Aros started without preamble. "They always listen to _him_! They _never_ ask me! They _never_ think that I could possibly speak the truth! But they don't even bother _asking_ and I'm never given the chance to say anything!" Aros coughed and turned away to spit mucus into the grass before continuing, "I hate them," he whispered brokenly, "And I want to leave, but I have nowhere else to go. I'm stuck here. Forever- watching them slowly kill me."

Aros sobbed hard, "Why's it always like this!" he demanded. "Why can't anyone ever just _CARE_? At least a little?" Shaking his head, Aros continued before Sora could even think of an answer, "Why do they think I could, or would kill Beel? He... _loved_ me. He _trusted_ me! He was the only one to _ever_ trust me!"

Heart aching, Sora shook his head and slid forward, heedless of the mud. Closing the gap between them, the brunet put his arms around the soaked teen. "I'm sorry," Sora said softly, "I wish I could explain, but I don't know the whole situation... But... _I_ believe you didn't kill him. You're a good person at heart. I know you are!"

"How would _you_ know anything about me?" Aros demanded, lifting his head to look at Sora finally, ocean blue eyes rimmed with red and tears.

Leaning back slightly, Sora smiled, "It's just this feeling I get," he admitted.

New tears formed in Aros's eyes, and the teen shook his head, trying to turn away from Sora. Not willing to give up the fight, Sora pulled Aros in, and unbalanced, the boy collapsed against Sora's chest. Turning his face against Sora's shoulder, Aros sobbed with a wet wracking cough.

"You'll get pneumonia out here," Sora stated.

"I don't care," Aros sniffled, "Maybe I'll die."

"Promise me you won't kill yourself!" Sora begged, "Not like this..."

Weakly, clutching Sora's shirt with one hand, the other clutching his necklace, Aros whimpered, "Don't make me promise anything! I don't know you!"

Sora gripped Aros's shoulders and pulled him back, "All the more reason to promise!" he replied firmly, "So we can _get_ to know each other! I _want_ to know who you are!"

Desolately shaking his head, Aros refused to look Sora in the eyes and whispered, "No you don't. You don't want to know me... I'm a screw up. Everything I try to do ends up wrong, or it backfires! All I ever do is _break_ things! I can't do anything right!"

Releasing Aros's shoulder, Sora gripped the boy's sharp chin instead and jerked the teen's face up- and realized suddenly that this incarnation of Aros was quite a few years younger than the one he'd seen in Toontown, not long ago. "Promise me," Sora whispered firmly, but compassionately, "Promise that we'll get to know each other."

Lifting his eyes, Aros stared into Sora's.

"I- ...I- I p-promise..." he whispered finally, capitulating to Sora's demand, though it pained him.

Nodding, Sora smiled slightly, "Let's put Beel to rest, then," he said softly, "and get you dried off before you get any more sick." Letting go of Aros's chin, Sora carefully brushed the boy's sopping wet hair back from his face.

"I'm crazy," Aros said faintly, staring down at the ground. "I have imaginary brothers and cynical voices in my head."

Sora huffed, "I'm not imaginary! And what makes you say we're brothers?"

"Of course you're not imaginary," Aros sighed in a way that suggested that he was just agreeing to make Sora happy and not argue any further. "But if I can't keep promises to my psychotic multi personalities, what worth am I to anyone else?" Lifting his chin on his own, Aros sniffled again and lifted both hands to wipe his eyes. Sora's fingers on Aros's other shoulder passed through the boy like smoke and shocked, he lifted his hand, then tried to touch Aros again. Again, his hand passed through, and Sora could only watch, like a ghost, as Aros stood and picked up the battered kitten, carefully putting it into the hole already dug in the flowerbed- probably without the garden owner's permission. Sticking the removed bulbs back into the dirt, Aros wiped his hands on his soaked pants, then turned towards Sora.

"I'm going inside now," Aros told Sora. "I won't die of this... I'll just Forget it. Like I Forget everything else. Will you be back next time I need you? Of course you will, you were before, even if I don't remember exactly what else I promised you. I almost wish you wouldn't come back, it would mean the damage wasn't bad enough for me to need you."

For a second, Aros paused, staring at Sora with a heartbreaking expression on his face, then finally whispered, "Goodbye... for now."

Staggering to his feet, Sora swept a hand through Aros's chest, trying to catch him as the boy turned away. No sound came from Sora's mouth as he called, and he watched helplessly as Aros resolutely walked towards the backdoor of the house, stomping up the steps in wet muddy shoes that had seen better days, two years ago.

Sora only just managed to catch Aros's shadow stepping inside when light flashed around him, blinding white. Throwing a hand up to shield his eyes, he squinted then lowered his hand as he realized he could see.

The girl from before stood facing him, her clothes and wounds mended.

_"You passed this time."_ Her voice turned deadly, _"But know, Sora, I will fight you harder next time. For if you cause more damage than there already is... I will be forced to kill you."_

When he blinked, Sora found himself looking into Donald's concerned expression.

"Shora! What was that light?"

Looking down again, Sora frowned, finding that the crystal he'd been given was gone. Only the book lay open in his hand, but the writing on the pages was now legible.

_'I found a kitten yesterday. He scratched me when I caught him, but I don't care. Once I got him inside out of the cold and kept him in the bathroom for an hour, he calmed down and let me pet him while he ate. The poor thing's so thin and starving! I'm going to ask Janet if I can keep him. I don't think she minds cats. I'll call him Beelzebub if she lets me keep him. He's a little demon, that's for sure. Here's a picture. I had to print it on regular paper because there wasn't any photo paper in the desk...'_

Turning to the next page, Sora read, _'Beelzebub is DEAD! Gary took a baseball bat to him and killed him! But Gary said –I- had done it and Janet and Bill believe HIM! And all I could do was stand there in shock as they yelled at me! Why does everyone yell at me? Why doesn't anyone ever believe me when I say I didn't do something? Why do I always lock up when people yell at me? It's like all the things I should have said are running like mice in my head, but my mouth just won't move and I can't breathe and it feels like I'm dying! What is wrong with me that everyone thinks I'm lying all the time? Oh Beel! I'm so sorry I let you down. You loved me and I let Gary kill you! I'm a terrible person- -I- should be the one beaten to death! Not you! I should get Gary back for this, but nothing I do phases him and –when he looks at me I just crumble! I can't believe I used to trust him! I hate him so much now! I hate him, but I can't fight him!_

_'...I buried Beel. I saw my Imaginary Brother again. I just decided he was my brother today because we look a lot alike and he always hugs me. He's the only one who's ever let me cry on them. He's the only one I let see me cry anymore. I wish he was real. But I know, after I write this and close my book, I won't remember him till he shows up again. All I'll remember is that I made a promise to not kill myself. It's a stupid promise because he doesn't exist and yet he said he wanted to get to know me and that he couldn't if I died. ...but like I told him; if I can't keep a promise to my own multiple personalities then what good am I to anyone else in the world? Maybe... someday I'll die by some other means and go to heaven where I'll get to meet him. Then he can be my REAL big brother and he'll stand up for me when everyone says bad stuff about me...'_

With a shaky breath, Sora snapped the book closed as he realized that Donald and Goofy were calling his name urgently. "I- I'm sorry," he said slowly, "Something weird just happened..."

"What?" Donald demanded to know.

Shaking his head, Sora set the book in his lap, "It's... hard to explain. But- I- I think I just went into the book."

"Huh!" his companions gasped.

Goofy continued, "But Sora! You didn't go anywhere!"

Giving a soft grunt, the brunet replied, "Maybe it was in my head...?" _'Or my heart?'_ he thought to himself, closing his eyes on the sting of tears,_ 'Aros... I promise I'll save you- because you deserve it! I'd LIKE to have a sibling... Maybe there is such a thing as second chances?'

* * *

_

_AN: Well, my dear readers, have I cleared up some questions, or are you even MORE confused?_

_Yet again, if there's any issues in the text, please tell me and I will fix them. _

_Next chapter: Can't get enough of that Disco Fever! Will Kaiyou ever get the chance to stop and think about things or will events just keep driving her onwards till she drops?_


	25. DanceDance Revolution

_Chapter 25 _

_(Dance-Dance Revolution)_

The town was a rather picturesque little place with a lot of the old buildings still intact from when the center part of town had been built. It seemed like a nice town to live in- except for the whole thing with the witches. But, if she'd had a choice, Kaiyou thought that she would like to live here someday. Mostly, though, her musings were just a way to distract her from thinking about all the other things that she really _needed_ to be thinking about.

Such as: Why she had suddenly remembered the kitten, Beelzebub, and why Sora was in her memory of Beel's funeral in the rain. It was too confusing, and she had so much else she needed to do at the moment that in all honesty, she didn't have the time to really think about it. The issue would have to wait till she got a moment to herself where she wouldn't be interrupted.

Pushing the thought aside, she concentrated instead on what she was going to do about Gary when she could not get close to him, nor could she stand the thought of actually hitting him.

_'Even in that fight over his drugs, I was only defending myself while he attacked... Whatever happened to my Other-other voice, the one that kept encouraging me?'_

_'He's still there,'_ Umi said softly, _'He just doesn't have much to work with at the moment.'_

Frowning at that, Kaiyou trotted along behind Max, Dani, and Allison as they headed towards the courthouse, where a large adult costume party was going on. _'Not much to work with,'_ Kaiyou mused, _'What does he need? Is there some way I can make him stronger? Not that I dislike talking to you... but you're mean sometimes, and he seemed a lot nicer. I think I'd like to have a nice Multiple Personality in my head for once.'_

Umi burst out cackling.

It took her nearly a half minute to calm down and finally reply, _'You just keep going, Ki'you. Keep doing what you've been doing. He's strong enough to help you."_

_'Help me what?'_ Kaiyou had to ask, and admittedly, the image of a white knight on his valiant steed charged through her mind, rescuing her from the perils of Orphanhood and gave her the freedom to wear her hair long again and dress in cute little outfits with matching shoes. A dreamy smile crossed Kaiyou's lips at the image.

_'I used to love brushing my hair...'_ she realized, hand stealing down to touch the side-pack her hairclips and comb were located in. _'Next bath I get, I'm gonna comb my hair till it's dry. Like I used to. Yeah... that'd be relaxing after all this weirdness.'_ She would just have to do it somewhere Dagger wouldn't see her acting girly- after all, she didn't want Dagger to feel embarrassed. _'I should have told her before she kissed me, but now it's too late, and ...I'll have her home soon enough. And to heck what Laguna thinks if he realizes I'm a girl!'_ Kaiyou decided firmly.

"What's the smile for?" Dagger asked coyly.

Flushing bright pink, Kaiyou shook her thoughts away and replied, "I smell food," she stated, and after sniffing, she realized that it wasn't a lie. "Fried chicken... hmmm."

Dagger laughed lightly, "Maybe they'll let you have some?" she offered.

Shrugging, Kaiyou couldn't really answer that, and instead followed Max, Dani, and Allison up the steps of the courthouse. Inside was a wall of sound: loud talking and laughter, and even louder music- as sung by a live band dressed as skeletons.

Immediately, Dani and Max split off, Dani taking Binx with her, and Allison remaining standing next to Laguna. "This is the Town Halloween party," she explained, shouting over the noise.

Laguna grinned, "Never been to a party like this before," he admitted, "Maybe if I ever find Esthar again, I'll have parties like this."

"What's Esthar?" Allison asked.

Puffing out his chest, Laguna beamed, "My country! Of which I'm the president! Although," he mused, deflating suddenly, "I'd have to pay off some people so they won't ever blab that I was a mage." He tapped his chin with one finger, other hand on his hip as he cut a look at Kaiyou and Dagger. Putting on her best innocent expression, Kaiyou felt the corners of her eyes and lips twitching and knew her efforts had failed.

"Ah," Laguna sighed, "I can see your price will likely be very high," he looked up at the ceiling, "May my accountants have mercy upon me!"

Confused, but wanting to know more, Allison asked, "But why is it so bad that you're a mage?"

Immediately grinning again, Laguna replied, "Because, we'd recently had some issues with sorceresses trying to destroy the world and so Esthar outlawed magic. You know, my son helped defeat the last Sorceress... Anyway, when the Heartless attacked a few years ago I got lost and ended up in another country where I was offered the position as Mage Apprentice, I figured, what the heck- I don't know how to get home, but maybe they could help me find my home again and so long as I don't let the power get the best of me, what better way to know thy enemy? If I ever get home, I'll be even more prepared to face the next Sorceress that comes to cause trouble!"

"You know," Kaiyou pointed out, "Your hesitation to use your full power may be exactly why your aim is so bad."

Thoughtfully, Laguna pursed his lips.

Lifting a hand, Allison waved, "Look- Max is waving us over." Without waiting for their answer, she started pushing her way through the crowd.

Feeling Dagger grasp her hand, Kaiyou tightened her fingers on the other girl's and headed off after Allison, keeping Dagger tucked in behind her as Kaiyou used her hard learned ability to slip through crowded school halls. Laguna flailed, getting caught in the press of bodies and was left behind. On stage, the music changed and the swingin' singer crooned his way into a new song, changing from singing, "It's Witchcraft!" to some new song involving the lyrics, "There's no nicer witch than you!"

"...Max, I love you, but enough is enough!" a man dressed as a vampire was in the process of saying as Kaiyou slipped through the crowd to join them.

Pleadingly, Max replied, "Come on, Dad, if I was gonna pull your chain-"

The balding man in a cape put his hands on his son's shoulders and said, "Now just calm down," and quickly cut over Max's words as he tried to explain further, "Don't you see how crazy this sounds?"

Impatiently, Dani danced and wiggled, bouncing Binx in her arms- the cat looked decidedly sick. "Aros!" Dani called, noticing the two of them, "Show Mom and Dad your Demon Killer Key-Sword!"

Flushing, Kaiyou replied, "Ah- it's a bit crowded in here for that..."

She looked around for a distraction- any distraction- just as Laguna stumbled up and crashed against her and Dagger, "The hags have crashed the party," he announced in a very serious tone. Any distraction but _that_.

"There! You see!" Max pointed, "They're here!"

Onstage, the singer continued, "I ain't gonna take none of your runnin' 'round, I ain't gonna take none of your puttin' me down..." and smoothly, he changed songs as the music shifted again, "I put a spell on you- and now you're mine!"

Turning to look at Laguna disapprovingly, Max's parents took a breath to start up some speech on indulging in childish fantasies when Max growled and broke away from the group, shoving through the crowd of costumed dancers to climb onto the stage.

"Hey!" he shouted, "Cut the music!"

Confused, the band stumbled to a stop and the singer objected, "I'm in the middle of a song!"

Reaching over, Max swiped the microphone from the man dressed as a skeleton in a top hat and said, "It's an emergency- only for a second! Will everyone listen up please?" Trying to shove forward through the now motionless crowd- which was harder to do than through one that was moving- Max's parents tried to reach their son and stop him from making a fool of everyone.

"Listen to him!" Dani shouted, "He's not lying!"

Licking his lips, Max shifted his weight nervously, looking over the crowd, "Your kids are in danger," Max started with, sending gasps through the crowd. "Three hundred years ago, the Sanderson Sisters bewitched people. Now they've returned from their grave-" people started laughing and Max waved his hand, "Hey! I'm serious! It's not a joke!"

Holding out his hand, the singer gestured with his fingers for the microphone, "Alright, this has gone far enough."

Hurriedly, Max stepped away from him, "No- wait! I know this sounds dumb, but they're here tonight- right over there!"

Gasps went through the crowd as spotlights- possibly controlled through magic, since there wasn't anyone standing on a ladder to move the stage lighting- swiveled to point towards the three witches and people backed away from them. Silence fell in the room, and smirking as she lifted a hand to click her long nails together, Winifred purred, "Thank you, Max... For that _marvelous_ introduction!" The room burst out into laughter, the tension broken, but still, the spotlights were on Winnie, and she was determined to get her fifteen minutes even if she had to kill everyone in the room.

Gracefully, she glided forward a step with Sarah and Mary stumbling along behind her, not exactly the dramatic backup she wanted, but Winnie made do with what she got and carried the show on her own. Terrified, Max looked around as Winnie took a breath and sang softly, "I put a spell on you... and now ... you're mine. You can't stop the things I do. I ain't lyin'!" Dramatically, she spun around, throwing her hands into the air as she faced the crowd from the bottom step that led to the stage, "Been three hundred years- right down to the _day_! Now the witch is back, and there's hell to pay. I put a spell on you..."

Turning to face Max, she grinned, pointing a finger at him, "And now, you're mine."

Laughing, the singer took the microphone from Max's limp fingers, "Good joke, Happy Halloween!" Helpfully, he shoved Max towards the stairs to get him off stage and said to his band, "Gear up!" then gestured for Winnie to come join him on stage and handed her the microphone, clapping.

Smirking, she said, "Hello, Salem! My name is Winifred! What's yours?" Taking a breath, Winnie started singing again, "I put a spell on you- and now you're gone!"

Behind her Mary and Sarah sang back up, finally catching on to what was going on, "Gone, gone, gone! So long!"

Desperately, Max leapt off the stage and shoved through the crowd that had started dancing again and grabbed Dani, "Let's get out of here!"

"Don't listen to them!" Binx warned and leapt from Dani's arms and obediently, the girl slapped her hands over her ears and hurried after the cat as he wound his way between the forest of legs.

Keeping hold of Dagger's hand, Kaiyou followed, snagging Laguna's arm as she passed him. Allison fell in behind, clutching the book to her chest beneath her jacket, as Kaiyou forged her way through the crowd, leaving a huge wake behind them. They burst out the doors and into much cooler air, Kaiyou releasing Laguna's arm, since there wasn't enough room for them to run three abreast down the stairs.

"I put a spell on _yoouu_," Laguna was crooning as he hopped down the stairs after them. "Rather catchy song, isn't it?"

"We've got two minutes to get out of here," Kaiyou stated, "No time for singing and dancing, _run!_" Without waiting, she started off, dragging Dagger along behind her.

Panting, Dani caught up with her and asked, "Two minutes? How do you figure that?"

Without looking over, Kaiyou smirked slightly, "That's how long an average song lasts. And since they didn't come after us immediately, they'll probably stay to finish."

Apparently finding the logic sound, Dani nodded and fell silent, instead just running, Max, Allison, and Laguna pelting along behind.

* * *

_AN: yet again, if anything is wonky, just point it out and I'll fix it._

_Next chapter: Roxas, more Roxas, and nothing but Roxas! Yes, Roxas has a chapter all his own! Well... Axel's there too, but you know... It's still centered on Roxas! I know his chapters are few and infrequent, but he's getting the more important information right now. He'll be in it more often later!_


	26. Behind the Curtains of Naught

_Chapter 26 _

_(Behind the Curtains of Naught)_

_'Gads,'_ Roxas sighed silently, looking at his watch, _'I've still got several hours before I have to head back and meet up with Sora.'_

Yet, every moment he spent in the World that Never Was, was a moment he was in grave danger. Grave danger of finding an early grave. Roxas winced at his own thoughts and shook his head to clear his mind of such depressing things. Instead, he concentrated on creeping silently behind Axel as they worked their way back up through the castle from the dungeon.

By now, they'd gotten up towards the more public sections of the Castle that Never Was, heading towards what Xigbar, Axel, and Roxas liked to call 'The Den of Woe and Rather Annoying Angstiness'- otherwise known as the library where Vexen and Zexion liked to spend their enormous amounts of free time, alternately reading and glaring at each other. It didn't take Roxas much effort to recall the Library. It was a big room with several groupings of comfortable wing-chairs to sit in and one couch, all done in blood-red. The books took up two walls, the third being the wall with the door on it, which displayed large paintings of desolate landscapes, and the fourth was a large wall of windows that looked over the Dark City.

_'How lucky we've been so far,'_ Roxas mused as he kept watch while Axel quietly pushed the library door open a sliver to peek in. _'We haven't met anyone-'_

"Ah, Gary, there you are..." Maleficent's voice purred menacingly, echoing in the hall.

Exchanging frightened looks, Roxas and Axel slipped into the library and slid the door closed again. Again, Roxas's heart leapt into his throat as the voices neared the library. Quickly looking around, he dived for cover behind the first thing that came handy- the heavy velvet curtains on the other side of the room. They smelled musty- just like they always had whenever he'd hidden there to spy on Larxene and her latest male toy. Sure, Roxas hadn't had a heart back then, but that didn't mean he wasn't still _curious_. It was just a good thing that Axel didn't know about Roxas's solo exploits. He'd A: want to join in the spying, and B: would never have let Roxas hear the end of it if he'd blushed even once.

As it was, since the curtains were taken, Axel was forced to find somewhere else to hide. Ah- Roxas smiled upon hearing a scrape- Axel had chosen to hide in the secret passage into the library. That was a good spot for short time and offered an easy escape rout, but also didn't offer a very good view of anything important, and the wall tended to muffle voices. The Library door opened.

"-Disappointed in your efforts in Toontown," Maleficent was in the process of saying and the door closed and locked.

"Forgive me, M'Lady," a male voice replied. He was a stranger to Roxas, and carefully shifting in a practiced way that did not disturb the curtains, Roxas peeked out to get a good look at the man.

He was tall, with long black hair tied into a tail, his face was quite pretty- he could have passed for a girl, except he was too masculine in the rest of his body. Casually, he unclipped his long white coat and dropped it across a wing chair as he strode across the room to the wet bar next to the door, "Would you like a drink, M'Lady?" the man purred with a seductive smile and coy look over his shoulder.

Irritated with the man's games, Maleficent flicked a hand, "No, Gary," she stated, gliding across the floor towards the window, and Roxas stayed absolutely still. "I believe that a simple apology on your part isn't all that is necessary to redeem you for this failure on your first mission."

Lifting his glass in a classy pose, Gary turned to lean a hip against the sideboard and smiled at her, "Well... if you wish to see it as a failure, M'Lady."

The tone of his voice made Maleficent spin around with a flare of her cloak and long black dress, fury making her eyes burn. Gary went on, "However, I see it as a necessary loss. You wish to have Kaiyou under your control, correct?" Irritated, but listening, Maleficent remained silent, allowing Gary to spin his threads- thus encouraged, the dark-haired young man continued, "You see, I allowed Toontown to be sealed because it really isn't that great of a loss, considering that we can still get Heartless into that worldthrough personal portals of Darkness." He sipped from his glass and licked his lips as he folded his arm under the elbow of the hand holding his drink, pushing off the sideboard to pace gracefully amongst the chairs.

"Are you just wasting my time," Maleficent hissed, "Or do you have a point?"

Smiling at her, Gary replied, "My point should be quite obvious: Toontown is still conquerable so long as darkness remains in at least one heart there. All we have to do is send in some Heartless to rampage across the city till all is in chaos, then we come in, 'destroy' the minions we sent and claim the glory. Everyone will be grateful to us for saving them, and not only do we have more Heartless, but the citizens of the town are in debt to us."

Stepping forward a pace, Maleficent clacked the butt of her staff on the floor, "Your plan would work even better if the World's Heart weren't locked!" she snapped.

Lifting a finger from his glass, Gary replied, "But isn't that where Kaiyou comes in?" he offered, soothing the witch's anger.

"And I point out your failure on that little task as well!" Maleficent snarled, "You try my patience!"

Quickly, Gary lifted his free hand and gestured soothingly, "Kaiyou is a tough case, M'Lady! She is aware of my tricks, but... I like the Challenge. I will make her Heartless before too long. I've already laid the foundations. Did you know... Sora saw her?"

Maleficent hissed in anger. "That annoying Keybrat will ruin everything."

Laughing and shaking his bangs from his face, Gary replied cheerfully, "Oh- no he won't! He's doing exactly what I want him to do- chasing Kaiyou around and frightening her even further. And once I begin sabotaging her victories- of which I must allow her a few- then she will start to see how much of a screw-up she is and when she's lost all hope of ever doing anything right, she will start making worse and worse mistakes that will, in effect, aid us!"

"I want her," Maleficent snapped, voice rising higher in pitch and volume at every word, "Turned into a _Heartless_! Not a loose cannon!"

"That, of course, will come in time, M'Lady, but might I direct your attention to what our 'allies' are up to?" Gary suggested suavely as he perched on the arm of the couch and sipped his drink. Maleficent began to pace, and Roxas tried to breathe as little as he could- she was so _close_! Far closer than Larxene or her toys ever got to his hiding place! From afar, he wasn't noticeable, but he feared that Maleficent would see him if she just stopped briefly and looked. But it was far too late to flee.

The witch stalked past, heading away from the window and curtains, further into the room, but Roxas didn't dare relax. Furious, the witch stopped in front of Gary and demanded, "_What_ do you mean?"

Smiling faintly, Gary replied, "Xemnas has sent Xigbar and Zexion to one of the new worlds. They've enlisted the assistance of three native witches in an effort to capture Kaiyou and her current group of trailing idiots."

"Witches?" Maleficent growled, briefly showing her jealous side.

Flippantly, Gary flicked at invisible lint on his black shirt, "The Sanderson Sisters are hardly a match for you, M'Lady. They've already been outsmarted by three incredibly stupid native children, and Kaiyou's involvement hardly makes the match seem amusing. Sarah Sanderson's brains are located in her breasts, Mary Sanderson's intelligence resides in her stomach, and Winifred Sanderson's IQ is only slightly higher than that of her sisters' put together, and she is far too easily distracted by the slightest temptation to put on a show. The only thing the three have going for them is a book of spells that was given to Winifred by Satan himself. Winifred is nothing without her book, which Kaiyou and her Band of Merry Idiots currently have possession of."

Lifting his eyes, the young man smiled at Maleficent's bland expression, "Perhaps M'Lady would like a present? A beautiful book bound in human skin that cannot be destroyed?"

Placing the butt of her staff on the floor before her feet, Maleficent lifted her head and folded her hands over the green jewel on the end of the staff. In a calm tone, she stated, "No gift is ever free- not from you. What do you want?"

Gary smiled charmingly at the woman, "I want... Kaiyou's heart.

"Just her Heart?" Maleficent asked slowly, suspicious.

Shrugging slightly, Gary replied, "And free reign on how I'll take it from her."

"A high price for just a book," Maleficent stated and turned away, "She is still useful to me, as she is. You may, however..." she looked over her shoulder, eyes half lidded, "follow your plan to make her life miserable- that will be your reward for bringing me the book."

Sourly, Gary bowed from where he sat, "As you wish," he agreed, knowing when to give up in an argument.

"However, you are to _destroy_ Sora," Maleficent ordered as she turned, leaving the library, the door banging shut after her.

Snorting, the dark haired young man tipped back the last of his drink and stated, "When I'm done playing with him."

As he stood, he threw the glass at the wall where it shattered. With a sweep of his hand, he retrieved his coat and pulled one sleeve on, leaving the other just draped on his shoulder and clipped it into place as he headed out the door.

Relieved, Roxas slid out from behind the curtain- and gave vent to an explosive sneeze as he disturbed the dust a bit too much. Axel snorted as he stepped out of the gap between the bookcase and corner on the other side of the room, "Bless you." Rubbing his nose on his sleeve, Roxas sniffled and squinted, trying to determine if he was going to sneeze again. Axel continued as he walked across the room, "I couldn't hear a word they said!" he griped as he came to a stop in front of Roxas. "I hope you memorized it."

Finally deciding that his sneezing fit was done, Roxas straightened- and sneezed again. "Gyah!" rubbing his nose once more, he stepped away from the vile curtains and replied, "Yeah. It was Maleficent and what appears to be her newest Heartless General, some guy named Gary. He's real evil, too- and almost succeeded in manipulating Maleficent." Rubbing his eyes, Roxas added, "I think we should get out of here. That was too close a call for my tastes."

"Hmm," Axel murmured darkly from across the room. "I _thought_ I heard some rats in the walls..."

"What?" Roxas asked, then dropped his hands to look up at Axel- who was still standing beside him- whohad turned to face the opened secret door on the other side of the room. Slowly striding out of the darkness within the secret passage was a tall redhead in black pants, un-tucked white shirt, and ripped up black vest. From his left ear hung a small silver pendant with the Heartless emblem on it, his long hair spiked on top and pulled back into a tail at the nape of his neck and a pair of dark sunglasses were perched on top of his head, right at his hairline. The man's green eyes flashed as he smirked. "Oh, not _rats_...worse than rats," the man purred, lifting a thumb to stroke the red mark that followed the arc of his high cheek bone, "What are they? Ah, yes, the word I'm looking for is... _Spies_." He smiled, his canines appearing incredibly sharp as he did so.

Backing up a step, then another, Axel reached out and grabbed the back of Roxas's jacket.

Yelping as he was suddenly yanked backwards, Roxas toppled into the Darkness and landed on Axel as he fell. The Heartless redhead on the other side of the portal just stared at them and burst out laughing, even as Axel closed the portal and shoved Roxas off. "Who- was that?" Roxas gasped, climbing to his feet, then offered a hand to Axel.

Refusing to meet Roxas's eyes, Axel admitted softly, "He goes by Reno. We need to go before he follows us."

Curiously, Roxas paused to look at Axel and try to figure out what the redhead was hiding. However, Axel lifted a hand and pointed, opening another portal into a dark street in the Dark City, just as a portal opened behind them. Desperately, the two of them leapt through Axel's portal, and upon landing on the other side, Roxas reached out and grabbed Axel's arm. "This way!" he gasped and the two of them ran down the street.

"Aww!" Reno called from behind them, "You're running away? How boring! Just know- wherever you go, I'll be able to find you!" He laughed again, putting his hands on his hips.

Dodging around a corner, Roxas looked around- was this close enough? He'd just have to try, "Teleport us!" he ordered and squeezed his eyes shut just before the flash of light. Breathing in relief, Roxas staggered off the ship's teleport pad, heading towards the pilot's chair.

Behind him, Axel just collapsed to his knees where he'd been standing, hands on the floor in front of him as he panted. "Reno... here... Reno- of all..." he shook his head and climbed to his feet, staggering as Roxas boosted the ship out of orbit and turned. Grabbing a chair, Axel dropped into it and watched as Roxas expertly got them away from the World that Never Was.

"Heading back to the castle early?" Axel asked.

Roxas nodded, "We'd been seen by too many people," he said softly, "It was too dangerous to stay."

"Reno won't give up. He's a good tracker. He's a Turk. He'll follow no matter where we go," Axel warned, trying to feel afraid- and succeeding in simulating fear enough that Roxas almost believed him.

"Will he kill us?" Roxas asked.

"No. Probably just capture us and take us to Maleficent," Axel admitted, "But _she'll_ probably kill us."

Snorting, Roxas couldn't help but smirk, "No doubt about that!"

* * *

_AN: A special shoutout goes to my three regular reviewers, Doomboy2000, Ri2, and AngelFlare! You guys are so awesome!_

_I really suggest that if any of my non-reviewer-readers are interested in anything Pokemon, Lilo and Stitch, Digimon, or Sonic, then check out Ri2 who has a fic that's over 900,000 words long and growing! Doomboy2000 also has an awesome KH2 fic called Memories of a Nobody that has lots of angst, awesome OC's, SPECTACULAR battles, and a super-cool plot! Memories is in my Favorite Stories list, and Ri2 is in my Favorite Author's list, so check them out!_

_Once more, if there're any glitches in the text, please tell me!_

_Next Chapter: On the run and out of breath, tempers erupt, and Laguna is left to do damage control before the confidence of an irreplaceable party member shatters. Meanwhile, Sora arrives and meets an opponent that won't be easy to beat. Stripped of his allies, can Sora survive or will this be his last fight against the Darkness?_


	27. Destined Encounters

_Chapter 27_

_(Destined Encounters)_

Shoving a hand though his hair as he ran, Max hissed a breath through his teeth, "This is bad! _Really_ bad!" The seven of them rounded a corner, coming to a dead end in an alley with only one door on it- the back door of a seafood restaurant, judging by the tank of lobster that stood beside the door.

What was so bad, Max didn't have to say. Everyone in the group already knew... Not only were the witches after them, but there was chaos on the streets as Heartless chased costumed children and most of their parents were busy dancing to their deaths in the town hall. The police were out in force, trying to quell the rioting, but only succeeding in hurting the innocent children and their worried parents. The Heartless were having a blast while Kaiyou, the only one in the whole town who was any good at killing the Heartless, was tired, hungry, and beginning to feel extremely grimy. Still, she took out what Heartless she could along the way. There wasn't much she could do, though, since the darn things kept re-spawning behind her. Max, Allison, Dani, and Binx were useless, Laguna was nearly useless, and Dagger was weaponless and her only spells were defensive ones.

"Aros!"

Blinking, Kaiyou pulled herself out of her thoughts and looked at Max as she asked, "What?"

"Why don't you pull something out of your bag of tricks that'll destroy the Sanderson Sisters?" Max demanded.

Thoughts scattering like roaches in a suddenly lit room, her jaw locked and she shrank back from Max's anger, confused and suddenly feeling as if all this were _her_ fault somehow. Eyes wide, she could only stare at the boy, completely unable to defend herself from his accusing eyes. "Max!" Dani shouted back, "Quit being so mean!" She turned a smile on Kaiyou, but it wasn't a reassuring smile. It was the smile of a little girl with a crush, and Kaiyou suspected Dani's feelings were directed towards the Keyblade. Wanting to just curl up somewhere and hide- let someone _else_ deal with all these problems, Kaiyou dropped her gaze and instead curled her arms in, standing there miserably clutching her Keyblade.

"Come on!" Max snapped, "If it weren't for you weirdos, there wouldn't be Heartless all over the streets attacking people!" Max wildly waved his arm back towards the way they'd come. Kaiyou shrank back a step from his barrage of accusations, unable to even breathe as he continued over Allison's soft pleas for him to stop, "And what're you doing about it? Nothing!"

_'He's frightened,'_ Umi translated, but her attempts to soothe Kaiyou made little difference for what Kaiyou really wanted was a hug and maybe someone to hide behind, but Max was glaring at her and she'd backed up against an old broken refrigerator and desperately wanted to just crawl into it and disappear.

"Can't you do some super wipeout move with that thing and destroy all the Heartless at once?" As if Kaiyou were some video game character with a Finishing Move, maybe in Toontown she could have done it, but here... here she was just normal Kaiyou once again, the little cross-dressing girl who had a talent for screwing things up.

_'That must be why I was so helpful in Toontown- because I could do things how I thought they should have been done. I have to follow the laws of reality here and Reality says I'm a screw up and can't do anything right!'_

_'Ki'you...'_ Umi objected softly, but Kaiyou wasn't listening, she was too busy drowning in her epiphany of uselessness.

Laguna stepped forward, coming to stand between Max and Kaiyou as he said, "Sure, the Organization and Heartless didn't originate from this world, but we didn't lead them here, nor do we control them. And I'd like to point out that we didn't put the witches here either," his tone was clam, and possibly the tone of voice he used when doing Presidential Type Stuff, "There's got to be a way to destroy them already on this world- every world has its own protective measures," he smiled slightly, "Every world produces its own heroes, too. We're just here to deal with the stuff you guys can't, and you know exactly what we've been doing since we got here, Max. We've been trying to keep that book out of the hands of our enemies- the witches, Heartless, and Organization. We're also not the only ones working on this problem."

_'Sora!'_ Kaiyou immediately thought, dread making her fingers turn cold. _'How does he know if Sora is here or not?'_

Dani bounced, "Do _I_ get a magic Key-sword too?" she demanded of Laguna.

"Keyblades choose their wielders," Laguna replied and patted her head, "You've got your own powers, though," he grinned, leaning down to her level. "You're devastatingly cute!" Unsure of what to think of that compliment, Dani quit bouncing and stared at Laguna.

"Winnie!" Mary's voice shouted from around the corner at the end of the alley, "I smell... I smell-!"

Looking at each other, the group pinned in the alley behind a restaurant dived into the piles of old restaurant equipment and trash. Laguna actually boosted Dani and himself into an empty dumpster, lightly closing the lid over them. Dagger dived behind a pile of garbage bags that hadn't made it to the dumpster, Kaiyou climbing in behind her, still trembling from the sudden attack from Max. Dagger, despite their situation, put her arms around Kaiyou and whispered, "He's just scared." Allison and Max found their own places to hide, and silence fell in the alley, and Kaiyou didn't see where that was because she had her face pressed against Dagger's hair.

"I wish people wouldn't _yell_ at me, scared or not!" she whispered back.

Coming to the mouth of the alley, the three witches paused as Mary sniffed, turning towards them. "Winnie-" the overweight brunet whimpered, "I smell- Scrod!"

Her sisters turned to look at her, Winnie lifting a hand as rage settled across her features.

Cowering, Mary continued, as if talking more would save her, "Scrod, you know- it's a bottom dweller. You cook it sometimes with lovely bread crumbs, little bit of margarine. Or oil. Olive oil is good, but you have to cook it at- Ahhhh!"

Hand landing firmly across Mary's face, Winifred shrieked, "You imbecile!" Grabbing Mary's ear, Winnie pulled her along, then grabbed Sarah's hair on her way past the excitedly bouncing blonde. Dragging both her sisters onwards, the three witches disappeared around the corner.

Breathing in relief, Allison placed her hand on the handle of the oven door she crouched behind and pulled, trying to use it to lever herself up. The door had other ideas, though, and fell open with a loud bang. The fugitives froze in place, breathlessly looking towards the mouth of the alley- but no one came.

Standing, Max stepped out from behind the refrigerator he'd used as a hiding place while Laguna helped Dani out of the dumpster. Kaiyou brushed muck off her pants after stepping out of the pile of garbage, then reached over to lift Dagger up over the slimiest bag. "Guys..." Allison said breathlessly. "I have an idea!"

As one, they looked towards her where she stood staring down at the oven she'd hidden behind.

* * *

_Flash!_

Sora opened his eyes and blinked, finding himself standing in the center of a graveyard.

"Huh," he grunted, looking around, just as Donald and Goofy were. Khimari was just standing there, looking grim. He was quite good at looking grim, Sora mused as he peered up at the Rhonso. "Alright, Mister Cat, can you sniff out Aros?" Sora asked politely enough, though he was mostly kidding.

Rumbling, Khimari growled, "Khimari Rhonso. Khimari _not_ cat!" and, as if five words in a row weren't shocking enough, Khimari added, "Khimari not dog either. Khimari will not sniff for Aros."

Clearing his throat, Sora coughed and shuffled his foot, "Er, sorry, Khimari, I was just kidding!" Reaching out, the brunet fearlessly patted the Rhonso's arm and grinned. "Aww, come on, Khimari!" Sora said, "Smile a little! I pick on you because you look so serious!"

Khimari's expression lightened slightly, but not by much. "Thash not shmiling!" Donald objected.

"Khimari smile," the Rhonso rumbled and this time, he put some effort into it and pulled his lips back from his fangs.

Goofy laughed while Sora and Donald instinctively recoiled, "Hyuck! That's the spirit!"

Shaking his head, Sora chuckled and took a breath-

"Roxas! Come back to us!" a familiar disembodied voice shouted.

Wincing, Sora turned away from Khimari and squinted into the shadows of the nearly leafless trees that grew in the aged cemetery. The moonlight made crisscrosses on the ground, and tombstones looked like vaguely monstrous shapes that gave Sora the creeps, but reminding himself of Halloween Town, he quelled his Heebie-Jeebies and shouted back, "Roxas isn't here right now, but I'll take a message!"

"You punk!" the voice snapped back, irritated now.

Stepping out of the shadows, a figure in a hooded cloak lifted his gloved hand to shove back his hood, releasing his long black hair with white streaks. "Should have known it was you, Xigbar, no one else has that bad of a Valley accent," Sora sighed.

Xigbar scowled from his single eye as he growled, "Xemnas invites you to visit the castle. We've redecorated the dungeons. _Blood_ red."

Mind immediately following Xigbar's lead, Sora gasped, "What've you done to Kairi and Riku?" summoning his Keyblade, the brunet stepped forward, intending to do bodily harm to the Nobody, whether he could die or not, but in the same moment, Xigbar pulled his guns, aiming them at Sora in return.

"Kairi... oh, that little bratty redhead!" he began laughing, "Xemnas rather likes how she screams. He'll be keeping her around for a _very_ long time."

"Over my dead body!" Sora shouted back.

Smirking, a second figure in an Organization coat replied smoothly, "_That_ can be arranged."

Amused at the looks of dismay that crossed Donald, Goofy, and Sora's faces, Xigbar took aim and fired.

All four of them dodged aside from the blasts, but as Sora rolled, he looked back to see that Xigbar was taking aim at him, and him alone. That, however, did not mean that Sora's allies were free to attack, for the second Organization member lifted his hands and carefully folded the hood of his coat back, revealing short silver hair.

Lifting his head, the man opened his eyes- and in a flash of darkness, he disappeared. Vines of darkness snaked up from the ground, rising out of the crisscrossing shadows from the trees. Sora dodged, but the Shadow Vines weren't aiming for him. Donald squawked as the vines caught his leg- then engulfed him.

"Donald!" Sora shouted, leaping over Xigbar's arc of plasma shots. But as he reached his duck friend, the vines disappeared in black smoke- Donald was gone.

"Sora!" Goofy shouted desperately, flailing as he too was caught, Khimari just roared and disappeared, leaving Sora in the cemetery with Xigbar as his only companion.

Smirking, Xigbar lifted his guns, pointing them skyward as he said, "Don't worry about your friends. Zexion will take _real_ good care of them..."

"You-" Sora started, but wasn't given the chance to say anything more, for Xigbar pulled the triggers of his guns. Arcs of red bolts shot skyward, then rained down, leaving Sora with little room to breathe, let alone shout silly demands at the Nobody.

Lifting his Keyblade, Sora did the best he could, swinging his blade around, he hit a red bolt, deflecting it from hitting him, then spun to connect with another. His first deflection missed hitting Xigbar by a hair, but his second was on target.

The third and forth bolts of the scattered shot hit the ground beside Sora, but unfortunately, Xigbar had fired twice more while Sora was busy. Still in motion, the brunet hit another bolt and deflected it into Xigbar, but two found their marks on him, sending fiery pain through him.

Xigbar warped the shadows around himself and disappeared, appearing on the other side of the cemetery. Again, he fired an arc of bolts, this time horizontally, and Sora dived to the ground, allowing the first shot to go directly over his head. The second and third arcs were shot one after the other- one high, the other low and Sora got to his feet again, leaping over the quartet of bolts that had been aimed at the ground where he'd been laying seconds ago. Bringing his blade into motion as he leapt, Sora deflected a shot, hitting Xigbar with it, the second hit Sora dead on, and the third barely missed- he was too far away for the fourth to be any real threat.

Landing again, Sora rolled away as he realized Xigbar had appeared directly over his head. "Dodge this!" the Nobody shouted and fired his shot.

Desperately diving away, Sora barely managed to avoid being hit. Again, Xigbar twisted the shadows and teleported, standing sideways on the air, aiming his guns. Turning to face him just in time, Sora swung his Keyblade around and caught the combined blast from both Xigbar's guns and sent them straight back to their originator.

Shouting in pain, Xigbar disappeared. "You can't stop us, Sora!" he sneered, voice echoing.

"Oh yeah?" Sora shouted back, "You just hide and watch!" Carefully, he turned, panning his gaze over the solid stone shapes in the graveyard, eyes jumping from one looming statue to another, trying to find his opponent. Carefully, he shifted his weight in his fighting stance, both hands gripping the hilt of his Ultimate Keyblade as he turned in place. Silence had fallen except for the skittering of leaves across the ground in a cold breeze.

The shot came from behind him, hitting Sora squarely in the back and sending him rolling forward, gasping for air. Xigbar appeared again, this time standing on the ground. "Such big talk for someone who fights like a girl," the Nobody snorted, taking aim with his guns again.

Before the next shot came, Sora shoved hard on the ground- throwing himself aside. Dirt exploded upwards, and Sora yelped as the turned out to be six feet lower than what he'd expected. Immediately, he climbed to his feet and pulled himself out of the grave, looking around for Xigbar. Again, the Nobody had disappeared.

"William Butcherson," Sora read on the tombstone, then frowned, looking down at the grave that _should_ have had a body in it, but did not. "...Missing corpses are a bad thing," he guessed and got to his feet jogging off through the cemetery. "Come out, you coward!" Sora shouted at his opponent- and spun around, bringing his Keyblade up to block as a wave of dark energy crashed against him.

Setting his feet, Sora pushed back against the darkness- and broke it. The trees beside him warped from the pressure of the force that abruptly hit them, and Sora gasped for air, then straightened as a figure in a long white coat stepped out of the darkness. "Hmm..." the black-haired young man murmured. "Interesting. You're stronger than that Brat Copy-Cat of yours. At last, a Challenge. I'll have fun killing you."

Sora whipped his blade around, pointing it towards the man and shouted, "You- You're Gary, aren't you?"

With a coy smile, the young man spread his hands, "I can't deny it."

Expression set, Sora narrowed his eyes, "Then prepare to die."

"Oh come now!" Gary laughed, "What's with the-"

"You messed with Aros," Sora shouted, interrupting, "That makes you my personal enemy! You...Kitten killer."

Stepping back, the young Heartless man blinked slowly, then blinked again. "K-Kitten...? I think you're mistaken-" he smiled as he spoke, placing a hand on his chest.

"Beelzebub!" Sora shouted, stepping forward firmly, "Aros's kitten. You killed him and blamed it on Aros. You had no right to kill an innocent creature like that!" Sora slashed his Keyblade down and to the side in fury.

Abruptly, Gary burst out laughing, "Oh _that_ mangy little beast!" he cackled, having to lean against a tree, "It bit me! What else was I supposed to do? It probably had rabies anyway."

"You said Aros did it," Sora pointed out, "which ticks me off even more."

"Why should _you_ care about Aros?" Gary snapped back, abruptly switching moods as he pushed off the tree and turned to face Sora fully.

Jerking his chin up, Sora stated gravely, "Because no one else seems to!"

"Either way, I'll still kill you. And her," Gary sneered and lifted his bare arm, his coat falling back off his shoulder as he held it up. Darkness condensed in his palm- crackling energy shooting spikes of black electricity between his fingers.

Dropping into his fighting stance once more, Sora watched, unsure of what the purpose of this was, mind reeling from the sudden shift of topic from Aros to the Girl.

Only belatedly did he realize that he should have used the opportunity to attack. Like metal to a magnet, the arcs of black electricity encircling Gary's hand shifted and changed, solidifying into a shape- a wicked black hilt with bat-wing cross-guards and an obsidian blade with a ruby channel down the center of the three-foot-long broadsword.

Launching forward without warning, Gary slashed at Sora, the tip of his sword leaving crackles of black energy in its wake. Startled, the brunet staggered backwards, retreating in the face of Gary's lightning strike attacks until he tripped and fell against one of the tombstone statues in the graveyard. Rolling aside just as Gary slashed again, Sora staggered away as the stone angel broke in half and toppled sideways.

* * *

_AN: I know. I'm so mean! Do you hate me yet? Do you love me with loathing? Do I own your souls? (j/k)_

_But anyway, yes, I am aware of what happened to Zexion, and I have an explanation for why he's back and has abilities again, but the explanation doesn't quite fit in this portion of the story because Sora never MET Zexion, so can't ask what happened to him. Be assured! I WILL explain eventually! I'll find somewhere to fit it into the story._

_To make up for my evilness, have some pictures!_

_Geocities(dot)com(Slash)demonicfangirl(Slash)origpics(slash)Sanctuary(slash)sfs(dot)html_

_(Also, if anyone wants to draw fanart, that'd be like so totally awesome that I'd seriously SQUEE myself into unconsciousness and then wake up and post it on my webpage (with proper credits of course). This webpage will also likely be updated as the characters move from world to world, mostly in the form of the "Cast of Character's" section as they meet new/old people and a section called "Special Character Designs" will also be added when they get to the first world they have to change clothes/forms for. I'll make an author's note when I update the page.)_

_If any paragraphs or sentences look odd, please tell me and they will be fixed ASAP._

_Next Chapter: Sora's first battle against Gary continues- and one of them walks away bleeding (because I like making Bishonen bleed, it's so fun! Review with your guesses as to which one! Not that it'd make a difference as I've already got ch28 written. Whahahaha!)_


	28. By the Thread of a Heart

_Chapter 28 _

_(By the Thread of a Heart) _

Kaiyou stumbled on the tiles of the high school hall she'd been running through, hand lifting from her Keyblade to clutch her necklace as pain sizzled through her heart. _'He's hurt- he's in danger- Umi! Help him! Please, help him!' _

_'If that's what you want,'_ Umi replied, deadpan, but Kaiyou suspected there was a pleased undertone to her Other voice, _'But I'm not the one who can help him. You have to do it.' _

_'What do I do?' _

"Aros?" Dani asked, looking back after jogging on two steps after Kaiyou had stopped. "Are you alright?"

They'd split up as per Laguna's idea, Kaiyou taking Dani, Dagger sticking with Allison, and Laguna working with Max to put Allison's plan into action. Dani was currently holding onto the book since Kaiyou was the only one who could effectively fight the Heartless. It made Kaiyou's job easier to have just one person to protect, but also made her nervous.

Their plan? Burn the witches. Everyone else had much more dangerous parts to the plan than Kaiyou, since Binx would be leading the witches through the school, Laguna behind them herding, Dagger and Allison in the kiln room to slam the door on them, and Max, well then again, Max's job to confuse the witches was quite safe in comparison to Kaiyou's possibility of being attacked by Heartless and having the book stolen.

Shaking her head, Kaiyou looked from Dani to the hall they'd been jogging down, heading for one of the inner rooms that Kaiyou could easily protect. "I- I'm alright," she breathed, and forced her feet into motion again stumbling to a room and slamming the door open. "Okay, Dani," Kaiyou said and moved into the room, releasing her Keyblade before she began shoving desks aside and said as she worked, "You stay in the center here- and sit on the book if you've gotta."

"Only," Dani stated in a bratty voice, "if you let me see your Keyblade."

Looking over her shoulder at Dani, Kaiyou frowned slightly, "My, aren't you spoiled," she said sarcastically and got scowled at. "Fine, if it keeps you quiet." Stepping back from the desks, she called her Keyblade again and handed it over to Dani. With a yelp at the sudden weight, the girl dropped the book, nearly dropped the Keyblade, and finally lifted the blade up a little to admire it while Kaiyou just shook her head and went back to pushing the desks.

"Wow..." Dani whispered and grunted as she lifted the Keyblade higher, barely able to lift the tip off the floor, "It's so heavy- you must be pretty strong," she eyed Kaiyou, watching as the girl shoved the desks around, clearing the center of the room. "So how did you end up getting the Keyblade?"

"I dunno. I woke up with it," Kaiyou replied absently as she nagged her multiple personality disorder, _'Umi! My Positive Voice is in trouble! Where is he? What's going on? What's happening?' _

_'You'll have to concentrate to help him,'_ Umi finally replied.

_'But I can't! Not with Dani pestering me!' _

_'I'll take care of Dani. You concentrate on Him. Put your heart into it!'_ Umi replied.

"Why're you pushing the desks around?" Dani asked.

"Making room in case I have to defend you," she replied and straightened from pushing the last desk aside. Kaiyou looked around then... closed her eyes.

She stood in darkness- no floor, no ceiling or sky, no walls were visible, yet she felt trapped, as if she were wrapped in a stifling blanket. She was cold, though. Terrified, she curled her arms up close to her chest, clutching her shoulders with chilled fingers.

Arms clad in white bracers with silver spikes encircled her shoulders and long blonde locks floated past, but Kaiyou couldn't move. She was too terrified by the darkness to move, even if she knew the one who stood behind her.

_"I'll take care of her, Ki'you... If you care for him- follow your heart." _

Shifting her hands, Kaiyou touched her necklace then clasped the pendant. _"I- I want to meet him..."_ she said, voice echoing in the eternal darkness,_ "I want to get to know him." _

_"If it's what you truly want, then you have to help him help you. So- let go... and take hold." _

_"Am I ready?" _

_"Let go... and take hold."_

_

* * *

_

As the statue toppled over, Gary shoved away from it, leaping towards Sora again, but finally, with his balance regained and feet under him, the brunet brought his sword up to block. With a loud clang, their blades connected- the sound seemed to echo through reality, then warp back on itself as Gary and Sora shoved away from each other at the same moment.

Neither waiting more than a breath, they leapt back towards each other, Gary slashing while Sora blocked, then brought his Keyblade back around to counter attack. His effort was blocked by Gary bringing both hands to the hilt of his sword and swinging it the opposite direction hard enough to knock Sora off balance. Going with the momentum, Sora spun to get his feet under him again, swinging his blade around at head height.

Again, Gary blocked, but wasn't able to get enough force behind it to do more than stop Sora's Keyblade.

Breaking off from each other, Gary scowled, his perfect black hair partially fallen into his eyes, the light of the full moon glittering off it like a halo. Sora flexed his fingers on the hilt of his Keyblade as they stared at each other across the cemetery, panting and trying to get some feeling back in his numb tingling arms. This time, Sora moved before Gary could, dodging to the left, then leaping in. Gary was quick, and got a block up just in time- again, their blades rang through the night with a strange echoing quality, like the clock tower bell in Twilight Town ringing backwards.

Shoving Sora away, Gary stepped forward to stab at Sora's stomach. Desperately, he twisted aside and narrowly avoided getting hit, but Gary's sudden shift of balance made Sora have to change his planned attack into a block as Gary swung.

Knocking the Obsidian Heart upwards, Sora leapt in, body slamming Gary in the chest hard enough to knock him back a step, and followed up his successful hit with another swing of his sword. Recovering his balance, Gary brought his sword in line and braced it with a hand on the flat of the blade as Sora's swing at chest height caught it- the key part of his sword catching around Gary's blade.

Gary grasped his sword hard and pulled as he stepped back, nearly ripping the Keyblade from Sora's hand before he could free himself and leapt back to put some distance between them. On the move even before Sora could land, Gary lunged forward in a stab and Sora's off-balanced slap only barely knocked the sword aside- Gary, however, had other tricks up his sleeve and the obsidian blade burst alive, arcing with black electricity that caught Sora's blade and rebounded from the enchanted metal and up his leading arm.

_'No! I won't let him hurt you!'_ Her voice called.

Shouting in shock at the sharp pain then numbness, Sora shoved away and escaped Gary's attack, then returned fire with a shot of Thundaga. The bolt of lightning lit the area blindingly, and from the shadows, Gary leapt, unharmed by Sora's attack.

Barely managing to block again, Sora quickly slapped Gary's blade aside before they could touch for more than a second.

Warmth encased his arm, as if another hand had settled over his on the hilt of his Keyblade.

He stepped forward in a lunge.

Stillness surrounded the cemetery.

Silence fell.

Taking a breath, Sora lifted his eyes and looked into Gary's.

"You were just a Challenge before, Sora," Gary hissed, "But now... it's Personal."

Shoving away, Gary's sword disappeared and he clutched his bleeding side, then leapt back into a portal of Darkness before Sora could attack again. The portal closed.

"Shora!"

Gasping for air, Sora spun around as bubbles of Darkness wafted away as black smoke, Goofy, Donald, and Khimari standing in a panting trio. They were all bruised, bloody, and battered, but alive, and Sora breathed with relief. "Are you guys alright?" Sora asked.

"Yeah," Goofy said softly, expression solemn. He looked rattled. For that matter, Donald and Khimari did too.

"What happened?" Sora asked, striding across the cemetery towards them.

Donald shook his head, but Goofy, being more open about things, admitted, "We had to fight our fears."

Coming to a stop, Sora looked at each of his friends and smiled, "I guess you won," he said, and for some reason, the simple observation had all three of them lifting their shoulders from the defeated pose they'd stood in moments before.

"Yeah," Donald said in wonder. "We did!" Goofy smiled, then looked at Sora- actually looked at him. "Sora- your arm!"

Looking down at his left arm- Sora gasped. A gauntlet of sparkling clear crystal covered his forearm where he'd not had any armor before. Lightly, Sora touched it, frowning as memory flickered in the back of his mind... But nothing came to light, and Sora shook his head then looked towards his companions. "Aros and the Girl are in danger. I met Gary- the guy that set that Heartless on us- er... you two weren't there for that. Anyway, he's going to kill them both if he can. We have to stop him!"

It wasn't that Sora had forgotten about Xigbar, but the feeling of there being a threat in the area had disappeared, so Sora assumed that the Nobody had gone- possibly been sent away by Gary. To where or what, Sora didn't know, but they did need to get moving. Thankfully, his three companions nodded agreement and they turned heading towards the cemetery gates.

* * *

While his first step out of the cemetery gates had been cautious, Sora was quick to change his attitude when his Keyblade appeared in his hand, called into being by the presence of creatures spawned by Darkness. His companions, tired and hungry, didn't look all that thrilled by the sudden drawing of his blade, and Sora stepped forward, coming to a stop at the edge of the sidewalk, staring out at the street. 

"There's Heartless around here, somewhere," Sora stated the obvious, "But... where are they?"

Bubbles of darkness burbled through reality and popped, dropping heartless on the street in front of Sora and his companions.

_'Ask and Ye Shall Receive- or maybe, Be Careful What You Wish For...'_ Sora thought, mildly amused, slightly irritated, and a lot exhausted and in pain. At least the crystal bracer on his arm felt reassuringly warm and Sora lifted his hand to touch it lightly.

_"Happy Birthday, Sora!"_ a high-pitched female voice giggled in his memory. Brilliant blue eyes- like the sky- glittered in happiness. His eyes, Sora realized. _"Oh- wow! Thank you Kai-"_

Like a TV abruptly turned off, the image was gone.

"Kairi?" Sora finished, not quite sure, and left wondering if someone was messing with his memories again- like the Organization had when they'd replaced Kairi with Namine. Unfortunately, he had no recollection of this event due to Namine's fiddling with his memories, but Namine had told him about it when he'd asked her to explain the note in Jiminy's diary that had simply said 'Thank Namine'. At least he'd managed to keep his promise to meet her again, whether he'd remembered it consciously or not. Promises of the heart were stronger than memory, apparently.

Shaking his head, he focused his eyes on the situation at hand and stepped forward, bringing his blade down to ready-stance and leapt forward to attack. "Come on guys!" he shouted to his friends, "We can't let the Heartless take over this world!"

"We have to find who's shummoning them!" Donald suggested, then followed up with, "Thunder!" which blasted a group of Heartless that were flanking Sora.

Yodeling as he went past, Goofy flung himself on another group of Heartless and Khimari leapt high into the air in Lancer mode, stabbing downwards with enough force to send a shockwave out, destroying the Heartless surrounding the one he'd aimed for.

Heading further down the street, hacking at Heartless as they passed them, Sora led the way. His choice hadn't been as random as it had seemed, he'd chosen the direction the screams were coming from, and as they rounded a corner, they found the source.

Chaos.

Pure and simple Chaos ruled the streets of the more populated central part of town.

Heartless ran rampant while police tried to disperse the crowd and stop the fighting, but their efforts only hurt the innocent people that were running from the Heartless. Sora shook his head at the mess then set his shoulders as he summoned up some reserve energy to deal with this new problem. Sometimes, he just had to wonder at his life and how weird it had become since receiving the Keyblade.

Shaking the cobwebs from his head, Sora jogged forward, swinging his blade as a Heartless appeared in front of him.

In a puff of black smoke, the Heartless disappeared, destroyed before it had the chance to do anything, and Sora was already three steps beyond it, wishing to the stars that he'd worn the clothes the three good fairies had given him! Or that he at least had Roxas so he could dual-wield Keyblades. Alas, he was stuck with what he had, so he worked with it.

_

* * *

AN: Sorry about the wait. FF.n wouldn't let me upload any documents! _

_Next Chapter: Dagger's Yabos and lessons in French. _


	29. Up In Smoke

_Chapter 29_

_(Up In Smoke)_

_"Welcome, to High School Hell!"_ Max's voice on the PA rattled through Kaiyou's head and with a gasp, she opened her eyes to find herself standing in the middle of the room with Dani at her feet, playing with the Keyblade in her lap. _"It's now time to meet... our three contestants! Winifred, Sara, and Mary Sanderson! So which will it be, ladies...? Door number one, door number two, or... door number THREE?"_

"What're you doing?" Dani asked, "You have super powers to sense Heartless too?" Scrambling to her feet, she tried to lift the Keyblade into a battle pose but wasn't succeeding in doing more than lift it off the ground and semi-horizontal.

Shaking the cobwebs from her mind, Kaiyou replied, "No- I... I have a lot of things on my mind."

"Like what? Dagger's Yabos?" Kaiyou's jaw dropped, "Are you- what was the word? Lesbian?" Dani asked.

Yelping, Kaiyou leapt away from the redheaded child and flung her hands up as if to defend herself against the accusation, "_What_! No! What? Why- _Why_ would you- What would make you ask something like that?" Blushing bright pink to the roots of her hair, Kaiyou waved her hands in denial, "Really- Woah- I mean- Geez! Dani! Where did you come up with something like that anyway?"

Resting the tip of Kaiyou's Keyblade on the floor, Dani leaned against it and stated matter-of-factly, "Well. The way Dagger acts around you. You _are_ a girl, right?"

Heaving a sigh, Kaiyou turned her hands to scrub her face and replied, "Yeah- I- I really should tell her, but I just _can't_! I- I'd thought she'd have figured it out by now, I mean- I just do it for protection- there's... there's a lot of sicko pervs out there that wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of me..." Kaiyou sank down to sit on her heels hands still covering her face, "I mean- I've got no one to protect me. So I have to do what I can to protect myself. And if it means pretending to be a boy, then it keeps the pervert guys from really looking at me, or hesitating long enough for me to run..." Her tongue stumbled into stillness, and she just sat there, in the following silence.

Startled, Kaiyou gasped as she felt hands touch her shoulders, and looking up, she met Dani's eyes as the girl knelt in front of Kaiyou, "What do you mean you're alone? You've got Dagger and Laguna, don't you?"

Shaking her head, Kaiyou sighed, "They're... just passing through. I'm taking Dagger back to her home, and Laguna... Laguna is Sora's friend. I don't know why Laguna came with me at all, except possibly because Sora is after me."

"Sora- Gary and Laguna both mentioned Sora," Dani observed, "who _is_ Sora?"

Looking at the floor, Kaiyou dropped her hands to clutch her necklace as she whispered, "I- don't know... but... I think he's mad at me."

Brightly, Dani smiled, "You should face your fears!" she suggested. "That's how you get stronger, right? That's what Dad told me when I used to be afraid of the dark. He said that you had to face your fears or you'd never know the fun you're missing. Like caves."

Kaiyou stared at Dani, unable to comprehend what Dani meant.

"Caves are really dark," Dani explained, "But after I faced the dark, I found out that caves are really cool."

"So," Kaiyou said slowly, "You're suggesting I face my fear of Sora and he and I could be friends?" Dani nodded. Slowly, Kaiyou shook her head, "I- I doubt it. Sora's mad at me."

"For what?"

"I'm a screw-up," Kaiyou whispered. Though she didn't know what she'd done to make him so mad- except steal his name. Her fingers touched her necklace. There was no warmth there now. _'Who IS Sora anyway?'_ she asked herself, _'Who is he to me? Or...who am I to him?'_ She tried to rationally lay out the possibilities for an answer, _'Physical evidence suggests we're two separate people... but...'_ closing her eyes, she clutched her pendant, _'What did Donald and Goofy say about the Heartless and Nobodies? –they're the same, but separate. Am I... something Sora lost?'_ while that question was innocent enough to ask, it led to an even darker question, _'Am I supposed to exist at all? DO I exist?'_

Fear rattled in her chest and she clenched her teeth as her mind relentlessly started laying out the evidence for such a possibility. _'I've got no continuous memories of anything- I thought I'd deliberately Forgotten all the bad stuff that happened to me. But... but... what if none of it ever really happened? What if I've never existed beyond this week and what I do remember isn't really mine? What if it's all Sora's memories?'_

She paused, _'But I'm not the same gender as Sora.'_ For a moment that seemed to settle her doubts, but the thought snuck in from behind the lines and whispered,_ 'but- what if his ENEMIES created me that way to throw him off? I ACT boyish enough to convince most people, only the innocent and observant ever notice, and it's not because of how I act, but because of my physical attributes that I can't control. Did I EVER really have long hair? Why DO I insist on being a boy? Why does it feel so natural to act this way?'_

Terrified, Kaiyou clutched her necklace even harder, making the sharp points cut into her palm, _'And in the one memory I DO have, Sora is there- Sora... Sora called me AROS! Maybe the name "Kaiyou" is a lie and my name really IS Aros?'_ On top of that, Sora was wearing the same clothes she'd briefly seen him in when they'd passed each other in Toontown. Same age, same clothes, but she'd... hadn't she been eight at that time? _'Or was that memory not real? Maybe it's Sora's memory and he's trying to work out his own problems by creating me? Maybe he intends to absorb me once he's finished absolving his guilt? Maybe that's why he's after me?'_

Standing abruptly, Dani sighed in exasperation, tired of waiting for Kaiyou to come back to reality. "And I thought you were strong." Turning away, she headed back towards the spell book on the floor and Kaiyou's Keyblade.

Irritated, Kaiyou stood, calling her Keyblade back to her hand as Dani reached for it. "You're quick to judge!" she claimed, hackles raised as she barked back in defense of herself, choosing to believe she had some sort of redeeming qualities, even if she was a Shade of Sora. "I've got a Keyblade and you don't! So maybe I've done _something_ right. Maybe I don't have to face Sora to be strong?" She didn't _want_ to face Sora now- _'I don't want to be part of him! I- want to be my own person, separate from him!'_

_'Or maybe,'_ Umi said in a sarcastic voice, _'the brat is right? You said you wanted to meet him.'_

_'Oh! What do YOU know?'_ Kaiyou snarled, terrified by the very idea of meeting Sora.

_'I know you're rather FOND of that Positive Voice that recently showed up...'_

Though Umi didn't reply verbally, Kaiyou got the mental image of her Other snorting, arms folded across her chest as she quirked a brow at Kaiyou. Umi was so good at being sarcastic and snotty that Kaiyou didn't need to actually hear what Umi would have said. _'Oh! You shut up! My Other Voice and Sora are NOT the same person! I mean- it's not possible! After all, why would I be able to hear Sora in my thoughts?'_ Even though the fact that she could hear Sora in her head only added evidence to her theory that she was a twisted fake of him.

_'Why is he in your memories is a better question,'_ Umi replied evenly. _'When you figure THAT one out, you'll probably have the answer to all the other questions rattling around in your head. I can't hardly breathe for all the "why's" floating around in here.'_

Silence fell in the room again and Kaiyou took up her guard position again, ready for anything- hoping for some sort of distraction that would keep Dani from saying anything else that might hit too close to home. There were a lot of things Kaiyou needed to think about but right _now_ wasn't the time to do so. It was too dangerous to be woolgathering.

* * *

"Bonjour, bienvenue à la bibliothèque," a pleasant voice echoed through the hall, "Hello, welcome to the library," the same voice translated to English. 

Shushing each other, the three witches paused in their search through the dormant halls of the high school, having followed Binx there and for most of the way through the halls. Binx had then disappeared, wandering off. Mary had her hands over her nose, her senses having been overwhelmed by the reek of children that lingered in the place, making it impossible for her to locate anyone.

"Je recherche un livre," the pleasant voice continued, "I am looking for a book."

Eyes brightening, Winnie looked towards her sisters, "My book!" she wheezed and hurried forward down the wide hall lined with windows on one side.

"Avez-vous les livres des enfants?" the voice said and Winnie again fetched up against the frame of a door as she located the source of the voice, "Do you have any children's books?" the voice continued.

Leaping into the room, Winnie shouted, "Ahah!" but her cry died on her lips as she found the room empty except for half-finished sculptures and various other art projects in progress.

The pleasant voice continued, "Je voudrais lire ce livre."

Breath catching, Winnie held out a hand to shush Mary and Sarah as she wound her way through the tables of projects, finally coming to the door on the other side of the room. "I would like to read this book," the voice translated.

Cautiously stepping into the small room, Winnie finally located the source of the voice, stopping in front of a strange black box that sat on the top shelf of the small reinforced room. "What is this?" Winnie asked- confused by the fact that a voice was coming out of a black box.

The door banged shut behind her, and she turned, eyes widening as she saw Allison and Dagger peering through the small window on the heavy door. With a clang, the lock slid home.

"Winnie!" Mary whined banging her fists against the door, "It won't open!"

Sarah hadn't even noticed, she was playing with an unfired clay mug, smashing some poor student's project into a ball.

Eyes widening, Winnie looked around as she felt the temperature begin to rise- noticing the massive amounts of clay objects on the shelves. "It's a kiln!" she gasped, "Those _brats_ tricked us again!"

"Winnie! It's getting _hot_!" Mary whined at the top of her lungs.

* * *

Stepping back from the kiln door, Laguna cheerfully dusted his hands and stated, "Well! That's a lot better of a solution to Sorceresses than we had back in Esthar! Why, my son and his friends were the ones that finally put an end to the threat of Sorceresses..." 

"Let's get back to Max so he can call Dani and Aros out of hiding," Allison suggested before Laguna could really get into his reminiscences and taking his arm, she herded him along.

Dagger pursed her lips slightly, pausing as she looked at Laguna for a long moment. Shaking her head, Dagger jogged after her companions, hurrying to catch up before she got left behind and got lost in the giant labyrinth of halls and classrooms.

Still, Laguna went on speaking, "I miss Esthar- I left my beautiful Ellone what seems forever ago. I think I'll retire if I ever get back there, let some new young stud muffin run the place. I've had enough of the death threats and not getting to know my children."

"Laguna?" Allison said softly as they hurried down the hall.

"Yes dear?" Laguna smiled at her.

For a moment, she didn't answer, but finally said, "As interesting as your life story probably is, I think I'm a bit too tired right now to pay much attention to it."

He threw back his head and cackled, "So polite!" Thankfully, he took the hint and stopped talking as they made their way to the front office where Max was hiding.

* * *

_"Dani, Aros"_ Max called over the PA system then switched to his cheesy announcer voice, _"the witches have been... Eliminated!"_

Leaping to her feet, Dani shrieked and squealed, bouncing around the room cheerfully, completely forgetting her disappointment in Kaiyou's reclaiming of the Keyblade.

Kaiyou simply shook her head, then looked around the room, wondering if she should put the desks back. Dani was already out the door, though, clutching the book to her chest as she ran. With little choice, Kaiyou followed, having to put some effort into it to keep up with Dani as she raced down the hall.

It was amazing that Dani could find her way out of the building so quickly, and they were the first ones to reach the front doors, Kaiyou stepping out to survey the area as Dani dashed out across the brick paved drive that was probably the bus drop-off point and started doing cartwheels in the grassy area beyond that. Shortly afterwards Binx came jogging past and was followed by Max, Laguna, Dagger, and Allison. Allison and Dagger were walking silently side-by-side. Kaiyou recognized their silence as that of Girls Communicating without Saying a Word on a Level Men and Peons Couldn't Possibly Understand- and unfortunately, Kaiyou feared she fell into the category of Peons because she didn't understand how anyone could seem to just _read_ someone else's mind the way Girlfriends did with each other. Even as Kaiyou watched, Dagger commented on something to Allison, and they started talking.

Silently, Kaiyou lagged behind, watching with envy as Laguna and Dani ran screaming and whooping in the grass in front of the high school, waving their hands in the air. Yes, she envied them their ability to just let loose and have fun anywhere they were. She'd always gotten laughed at whenever _she'd_ been spontaneous.

As for Max... Max headed over to the fence where Binx had climbed a tree and the two were also talking.

_'We defeated the witches,'_ Kaiyou stated, _'And yet... I wasn't much help at all. Or am I being stupid just because I was so important in the fight against Doom? ...Was I really that important or was I just redundant?'_

Umi didn't have an answer for that and remained silent, so Kaiyou stepped lightly down the stairs, heading towards Max to ask him if he had anywhere they could crash for a little while. She'd not seen Sora on this world, so she hoped he'd not been able to follow her, which meant she could safely stay a little longer than she would have otherwise.

"We did it, Binx," Max was saying as she approached, and not wanting to interrupt their conversation, Kaiyou stopped where she was and remained silent.

The cat nodded and settled on his branch, "I've wanted to do that for three hundred years... since they took Emily..."

Looking up at Binx, Max tipped his head, "You really miss her, don't you?" Binx looked away- inadvertently right towards Kaiyou, his yellow eyes stabbing straight through her to her heart. Her hand lifted and clutched her pendant. "Man!" Max continued, "You can't keep blaming yourself for that. That happened so long ago."

_'But some things never leave you,'_ Kaiyou reflected, staring into the cat's eyes as complete understanding dawned on her- even if she wasn't quite sure why she understood him so fully. _'Who did I lose?'_

Binx finally looked back towards Max and said, "Take good care of Dani. You'll never know how precious she is until you lose her." With that, he leapt down from the tree.

"Hey, Binx! Where're you going?" Max called, chasing after the cat.

Kaiyou stood rock still, the edges of her pendant cutting into the flesh of her palm as she gripped it, tears stinging her eyes. _'Why do his words hurt so much, Umi?'_ Kaiyou demanded, unable to breathe and closed her eyes on her tears.

"Hey Aros! Whatcha doin' standing over here by yourself?" Laguna asked, coming up beside her to drop an arm around her shoulders. "You don't need an invitation to come have fun with us," he said, the wrinkles around his eyes visible. He looked as tired as she felt.

Dropping her gaze, Kaiyou stared at the ground, "I- was just thinking..."

"About what?"

"Family," Kaiyou blurted, then flushed as she realized that her tongue had betrayed her. Why did she want to talk to him? What was it about him that made her feel... safe, despite his inability to aim his spells and tendency to talk too much?

Laguna smiled gently at her, "Yeah, family is pretty nice to have. Why, I've had two wives and three children. My eldest son, from my dearly departed first wife, doesn't want anything to do with me- moved to another world just to get away from me in fact! The other two are from my second wife- my second son doesn't even know I exist and..." he didn't finish that thought, instead, he turned his head slightly and looked away, "Maybe I should retire from being president and let someone else take a turn at it? It's about time I spent time with my children."

Kaiyou couldn't help but look up at him, slightly hurt that he would talk about his children to her- she who had no parents or siblings or even extended family. _'Alone...'_ A chill feeling crept through her from within and not wanting to admit to what she'd been thinking Kaiyou shoved his arm off and stalked away.

"Aros," Laguna called, "We're going to get something to eat and find somewhere to get some rest. _Now_, before we run off to somewhere else and get involved and you forget to take care of yourself again."

Spinning on her heel, she scowled at him, "Don't you go acting all Parental on me! I'd already made the decision for myself, so shut up!" she fussed and turned away, opening her side-pack as she walked, fishing in it for the munny pouch Deloris had given her. Yeah, there it was, with cash in it. _'What do I want to eat?'_ she mused ...actually, the question was more like 'what's open this late at night?'

Irritated, Kaiyou shoved the munny pouch back into her side-pack and looked over her shoulder to find Laguna being clutched at by Dani once again. Laguna smiled and attacked her with tickles- but even while he was doing so, he glanced towards her.

Unnerved by his attention, Kaiyou turned her back on him and stared straight forward. "Kaiyou?"

Blinking, she turned to look at Dagger and pushed a smile onto her lips, "I'm fine," she said automatically, amazed by Dagger's constant concern.

Dagger smiled and slipped her hand into Kaiyou's dangling left- her necklace clutched in the other hand- as she said, "Max has invited us over to his house for a while. He wanted to introduce us more formally to his parents. I think he wants to make them believe him."

For a moment, Kaiyou stared at Dagger, her words finally sinking in before she nodded, "Okay."

The princess's smile grew slightly, "He said they've got something for you to eat there too."

"Oh. Good," Kaiyou said, "I don't think any fast food places are open this late anyway."

Tipping her head, Dagger blinked up at Kaiyou and said, "Fast food. Hmm. I'll have to try some sometime."

Nodding, Kaiyou offered, "We can try and stop by somewhere before we leave this world." At that offer, Dagger smiled and together, they turned, looking towards the others.

"Aww, isn't it cute! They're holding hands!" Laguna crooned.

Flushing bright pink, Kaiyou let go of her pendant finally and drew her Keyblade, "I'm gonna-" she sputtered and flailed as Dagger restrained her, "Quit _laughing_ at me!"

Of course, her temper tantrum only made them all laugh harder. Even Dagger was giggling.

Settling down, Kaiyou smiled slightly, "Hey-," reaching into her side-pack, she shuffled in it, finally pulling out her camera, "Everyone line up and smile!"

Obediently, they grouped together and Dagger dashed over, to stand in front of Laguna, Max beside Allison and Dani in front of him holding Binx. A click and flash later and Kaiyou looked at the picture preview. "Thanks!" turning the camera off, she shoved it into her pack again and said, "Let's go get something to eat now!"

"I'm hungry too!" Dani voted, and set Binx down in favor of skipping off down the street.

* * *

_AN: I'm so VERY sorry to any French speakers out there that read this andfind that the French doesn't translate to what I said it does, because I don't know French and I used a program online to translate the phrases. If you know what the words SHOULD be, review with the corrections and I'll fix it!_

_Also! Page update! Sora and Roxas pics have been loaded into the General character designs section. Though Roxas doesn't technically get that outfit he's wearing till ch39. It sucks having so much more written beyond what my readers have seen because I wanna share the jokes but I must WAIT because otherwise I'd spoil you all and you'd be mad at me! ;.; I also have a lot of other pretty pictures I want to share, but they're spoilers too!_

_Next Chapter: thoughts and reminiscences- Laguna's past._


	30. Carved out of Sand

_Chapter 30_

_(Carved out of Sand)_

"Hey Aros, I've got a riddle for you," Laguna said as they walked, Max having decided to invite them all back to his house for something to eat and some rest.

Kaiyou looked towards him and frowned. The streets were almost eerily empty now except for the occasional Heartless which Kaiyou could easily take care of, despite being as tired as she was. Her eyes felt like black pits in her head, gritty with eyeball grime and red from strain. In short, she felt hideous and didn't feel like playing Laguna's stupid riddle games. He was just far too chipper for how long they'd been awake and moving. She judged it to be about four in the morning now, and yet she didn't feel like she could just lie down and rest until all the Heartless were gone from Salem. That choice, however, had been taken from her by unanimous vote of her companions, and who was she to argue with that?

Undaunted by her lack of response, he continued, "What can you give away yet still keep?"

Annoyed with him, Kaiyou declined to answer and just kept going, Dagger walking on her other side from Laguna. Max was leading the way with Allison beside him, their hands almost touching. Dani was being carried by Laguna, Binx in Dagger's arms. The silence lengthened, and Kaiyou finally heaved a heavy sigh, "Fine. What?"

Lifting a finger cheerfully, Laguna placed it on her nose, "Your heart," he informed her.

Frowning at him, Kaiyou pulled away from his playful finger on her nose and tried to ignore him as he hummed a song, "Did you ever know... that I had mine on you..." he sang under his breath, and Kaiyou's heart twitched.

_"Darling so there you are..."_ echoed through her mind, sung by a soft male voice.

_'Wasn't that song done by a woman?'_ Opening her eyes after she stumbled, Kaiyou blinked and silently swore.

_'I wouldn't know, I've never heard that song before...'_ Umi replied.

"Aros?" Dagger said softly, "You alright?"

Flushing, she shook her head, "I- I'm just ...really tired." At least she wasn't lying.

"Here we are!" Max announced, jogging ahead up the stairs of a white porch to the front door which he pushed open. "Mom? Dad?" he called as he entered and reached over beside the door to flip on the living room light, illuminating the room as a wide space that opened into a cozy dining room, and on the other side of the room a door opened into what appeared to be a half-unpacked office. Near the front door was a set of stairs that curled up to the second story. It didn't appear to be a big house width wise, but probably all the bedrooms were upstairs. Kaiyou didn't care. She could have crashed and passed out on the living room floor if Laguna hadn't slipped an arm free from holding Dani against his shoulder and gotten his arm under Kaiyou's, holding her up as she swayed.

"Food first, I think," Laguna said, taking charge of the situation as the only adult present.

Max nodded, "Uh, I think we've got some stuff to make sandwiches." Turning, he headed towards the dining room and Laguna detoured to the couch to set Dani down. Awoken from her nap, she yawned and stretched her arms over her head as she blinked sleepily. Unable to help it, Laguna smiled at her and brushed her hair back from her face.

"You're a good dad, Laguna," Dani told him, smiling dreamily.

"If only I had children left to be a father for," Laguna admitted softly and Kaiyou paused, turning her eyes towards him as she tried not to show that she'd heard him say that.

Oblivious to his tone, Dani replied, "You've got Aros still," she pointed out. "Isn't sh-"

A crash and curse from the kitchen stopped Dani before she finished what she was about to say. Climbing to her feet, Dani hurried to the kitchen, "Max! You know that shelf falls out, why'd you put the mayonnaise there?"

"I didn't! Dad did! Dani- don't come in here, there's glass on the floor." Max ordered her, "Sorry guys," he said, peering out at them around the door frame, "Here, Dani, put these on the table." He handed her sliced bologna, and a bag of bread, followed by the mustard.

Huffing, Dani took the items to the table and Kaiyou blinked, turning to look at Laguna, finding him staring at her in a speculative way. Unnerved, she scowled at him in return and headed past Dagger and Allison, pulled out a chair at the table and dropped into it as the world swayed around her. Setting Binx down, Dagger picked at the black hairs on the front of her shirt and sighed before taking the seat beside Kaiyou. "Cat hair," Kaiyou observed, "Of course he wouldn't let me pick him up. I'm wearing black."

Binx looked up, blinking from Kaiyou to Dagger, then back. "What?" he asked.

"She's covered in cat hair now," Kaiyou pointed out, "You could have had Allison hold you, but her denim jacket's not quite as good a canvas as Dagger's shirt is."

Binx opened his mouth to protest that his choice had been logical but closed it as Dani looked over and started laughing. "You've had cats before?" Dani asked.

"Once... A black and white one," Kaiyou said slowly, probing the memory. Yes, it still hurt that Gary had killed Beelzebub, but it wasn't her fault and it wasn't worth killing herself over this long after the event. She'd survived and maybe someday she'd be able to have another cat? "He would only let me hold him when I was wearing white."

Again, Dani giggled, "We used to have two cats, but they were really old and when the one died, the other went crazy and had to be put down. What happened to your cat?"

Kaiyou hesitated, "...My foster brother killed him," she said softly, then shook her head as gasps went around the table. "It was years ago, I'm not in that house anymore." The thought hit her that while she wasn't living with him currently, she was still stuck in a weird world where he was her enemy. Looking down at the table, she fell into her own thoughts. _'If I did die,'_ Kaiyou thought recalling the exploding train once more, _'this sure isn't heaven. Maybe that's why I'm afraid of meeting Sora? Or am I afraid of disappearing if I meet Sora? Maybe Gary is really Sora's enemy and he's confused? What about my diary?'_

She'd written:

_..."Maybe someday I'll die by some other means and go to heaven where I'll get to meet him. Then he can be my REAL big brother and he'll stand up for me when everyone says bad stuff about me."..._

Except... she'd run away from him.

He'd been very nice to her when Gary had killed Beel, and she had the feeling that she'd seen him many times before that, too. But... Why? It didn't make sense! _'None of this is real,'_ she decided.

Umi spoke up, sounding exasperated, _'Or, maybe all of this is real,'_ however, due to her mysterious nature, the Other voice didn't bother to explain what she meant or anything and Kaiyou was still left with the confusion she'd started with. Around her, other conversations picked up, less icky ones than evil foster brothers, Dani was valiantly leading the story-telling time by talking about the time Max had flooded the upstairs bathroom back when they lived in California. Max was loudly claiming it was Dani who'd done it, and Dagger had her hand on Kaiyou's knee under the table. If she'd been paying attention, Kaiyou would have brushed Dagger's hand off.

Under her breath, she muttered, "Sometimes, I hate you, Umi."

"What did you say, Kaiyou?"

Blinking, she came back to herself and looked at Dagger with a slight smile that did little but reveal how tired she was, "Nnnh," was all Kaiyou replied with. Dagger pushed a plate in front of her.

"Eat," she ordered in her charming cultured tones. The Voice of a Princess and Kaiyou envied her, but not in a hateful way.

Picking up the bologna sandwich, Kaiyou tiredly took a bite of it and chewed.

Again, everyone ignored her in favor of talking. This time, it was Laguna, who was chattering about how he saved Esthar from the Sorceress Adel by chopping her head off and then they'd made him president. "While I was away, my wife, Raine, gave birth to our son, Squall. She didn't make it, and I couldn't get away from work long enough to go get Ellone and Squall and bring them back with me, so instead I arranged for them to go to an orphanage run by a friend of mine."

"What happened to Squall after that?" Allison asked.

"Why, he defeated the next Sorceress and moved to a town called Radiant Garden," Laguna replied cheerfully, as if it didn't bother him that he'd never known his own son.

Allison asked politely, a moment later, "Didn't you say you had other children?"

"Yes, twins by my second wife, Ellone."

Max raised a finger, "Wait-"

Grinning, Laguna nodded, "Yes, _that_ Ellone."

"Woah..."

"It's only ten years difference," Dagger murmured, "Not that bad considering that he's the leader of a country. At least he had his choice for his second wife."

"It may as well have been a marriage of state, after what happened..." Laguna sighed, "Thirteen years ago, there was a lot of political infighting going on and Ellone had gotten scared. Our children were only three and... she and I agreed that they didn't need to be exposed to the mail bombs and death threats I'd been getting at the time. So she moved permanently to our summer home on the coast... I haven't seen her much since then."

Kaiyou frowned faintly behind her sandwich, eyes narrowing as she faintly recalled the sound of waves lapping the shore. Well, she'd been to a beach lately- her first time. _'Or was it? Sora has certainly been to the beach.'_ She could see him now, very young, soaked with salty water, eyes gleaming with happiness, sparkling in the sunlight just like the waves.

_"Come on! Don't be a baby, Kai-"_

The image abruptly ended. _'Kairi,'_ Kaiyou finished. _'Sora's girlfriend. Sora's friends; Riku and Kairi.'_

Silence had fallen at the table and Kaiyou shifted uncomfortably as the others tried not to ask the obvious question- not wanting to press Laguna for information on something that was probably a very bad topic for him. But... Kaiyou wanted to know. It seemed important to know.

"What happened to..." Kaiyou started softly and lifted her eyes, "Your daughter...?"

Laguna went pale and their eyes met. Kaiyou only belatedly remembered that Laguna had never said anything about having a daughter.

_'How did I know that?'_ she asked Umi who could only shrug.

Everything stopped at the table, looking from Kaiyou to Laguna and back.

"...She was killed," Laguna admitted finally, lips pressing firmly together.

Dani, thinking the subject was okay to talk about now, had to ask, "You're sure?"

As if the words were pulled from him by chains, Laguna looked away, "They sent pictures."

_'Pictures like the one Gary gave me of Beelzebub.'_

_"Here, Kaiyou, a memento!"_ he'd sounded so cheerful.

An uncomfortable silence fell, and Kaiyou wracked her brains for something- anything that was of a lighter topic than all this dwelling on death and blurted the first thing that came to mind, "You know, I always wanted to build a sand castle." Well, actually, that was her second choice of something light and random to say, her first had been _'I always wanted a pony,'_ but she'd ditched that for something that was more gender neutral.

This got her stared at anyway, and blushing, she forged onwards, "You know- like one of those ones that are like... huge and really detailed. The ones that people build for contests and stuff?" her voice trailed upwards as she sank down in her chair slowly.

Dani took a breath and was off, "Oh! Like that contest they had the week before we left, remember that Max? I wanted to join but we couldn't because we had to pack."

Max nodded. "Yeah, I think our neighbor won that one."

The little girl huffed, "He's _always_ winning stuff! I wonder if he gets sick of it."

Kaiyou sank down in her chair and licked the tip of her finger, poking at the crumbs of bread still on her plate, gathering them, and licking them off her finger.

"You still hungry?" Dagger asked and Kaiyou blinked at her, finding that Dagger apparently didn't have much of an appetite, she'd only eaten half her sandwich. She slid her plate over and Kaiyou ignored the bite-marks and polished it off.

"It tastes better with mayo," Kaiyou told Dagger softly, "Covers the processed meat taste. ...But I guess you've never had anything like that before. Bologna's a little bit of an acquired taste."

Dagger giggled behind her hand and shook her head, "It was alright, I just... the very idea of... pictures..." Kaiyou pushed herself up from her slump in the chair and touched Dagger's shoulder and leaned in to whisper, "There's worse they could have done to him. Laguna's fine, he survived, and he probably got those guys back for what they did."

"I just can't help but think of myself in his place. Kaiyou... I need to get home soon- Gary kidnapped me four days before my coronation as Queen of Alexandria was scheduled," Dagger picked at her gloves in her lap, "I can't help but think of the chaos there now! Poor Steiner. Poor Beatrix... I put them through so much sometimes."

Biting her lips together as she reared back, Kaiyou somehow managed to not shout in shock. "Ah- uh, well-" she stammered, "We'll get you home in time, promise! Next stop- Alexandria!" she put a fist into the air in as much enthusiasm as she could manage.

"Next stop, Bed," Laguna corrected. "We're crashing here for at least a few hours before we're going anywhere."

Snidely, Kaiyou rounded on him and asked, "Even to the bathroom?"

He eyed her and sighed. "You're just like Squall sometimes."

"Whatever."

* * *

_AN: Aloria tosses a whole crate of red fish into the mix. Okay, so they're koi, not herring, and a little more orange than red, and if you would just ignore the white ones. She couldn't find any live red herring for anything cheap, so koi will have to do._

_Next Chapter: _WHAT_? Gary singing in a cheerleading outfit? And the battle that never ends - until someone dies! Also, some explanations – maybe? "Believe what you will, for the truth is, I'm a liar."_


	31. On the Way to Damnation

_Chapter 31_

_(On the Way to Damnation)_

Running- it seemed like he'd been running all night, but he couldn't stop. Not yet! Even though the number of Heartless attacking was diminished, there were still enough chasing people around that Sora couldn't rest.

Tired but pushing himself onwards, Sora intercepted a Heartless that was standing over a child in a Halloween costume of a bat. Lashing out, he struck the Heartless hard across the chest, making it back off a step, then finished off the beast with another stroke. Fearfully, the child remained curled up on the ground as Sora turned and knelt. "Hey," he said to the boy, "You can't stay here, we need to get you to a safe place-"

"I want my _mommy_!" shrieked the boy of perhaps seven.

Sora shook his head, "Then let's go find her!" he suggested, "Come on," taking the kid's hand, he pulled the boy to his feet and hauled him off towards where Donald and Goofy were standing guard over ten other terrified children huddling together.

Other children, figuring out that Donald and Goofy were capable of protecting the nook between the main doors of the library and the west wing, were making their panicked way over, which made it easier for Khimari to come in behind and rid the children of their pursuit. Releasing the child at the drop-off point near Donald, Sora turned away and headed back out towards the edge of the square, slashing at Heartless as he passed them. For the most part, he didn't concern himself with them except to soften them up slightly. Donald's spells usually came in behind him and finished them off, so Sora's help on protecting their safe haven in the square was redundant. That was fine, it left Sora and Khimari as free-ranging agents to round up the other children and their chaperoning parents.

A man hauling two children over his shoulder came running around the corner and Sora shouted to him, "Over there!" Maybe the man understood, maybe he was too frightened, but either way, he seemed to at least understand that the space across the square where everyone else was huddling was safe and ran for it.

Turning back from making sure the guy headed in the right direction, Sora skidded to a stop as he found a silver haired man in an Organization coat standing in front of him. Zexion pushed his bangs back from his face, untouched by the chaos surging around him.

"You!" Sora gasped, "You're the one controlling the Heartless here, aren't you?"

Lifting his eyes, Zexion snorted, shrugging, "No. Actually. Our pawns on this world are the ones who set the Heartless loose on the town. Rather inefficient of them, but so long as they do what we want, it hardly matters."

Irritated, Sora slashed his blade and leapt forward, swinging it back around to strike at Zexion. His Keyblade whipped straight through the image of the Organization member. "Huh?" Sora asked, staggering to a stop.

"I've learned a few things since Castle Oblivion," Zexion's image stated and his pale lips quirked in a slight smile that was completely devoid of feeling, either warmth or chill, which made it all the more creepy.

Shaking his head, Sora backed away a step, "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Of course you don't," Zexion stated, "Namine made sure of that. Hiding her embarrassment by conveniently dropping the lose links into the darkness. Some things... don't abide by being forgotten... Such as myself."

"Where's Xigbar?" Sora demanded, if he couldn't hit Zexion...

"Oh, him..." Zexion shrugged nonchalantly, as if he didn't care. He probably didn't. After all, you needed a heart to care about anything. Lifting a black gloved hand, Zexion flicked his wrist, darkness forming a whip in his grip.

Sora made the mistake of blinking and found himself flying backwards through the air. Throwing his weight into a flip, he got his feet under him just before he landed and brought his Ultimate blade around to block Zexion's whip of Darkness. The whip passed through his sword and struck him across the face, sending him rolling backwards across the pavement.

"Shora!" Donald shouted as he got to his feet and dodged aside from the next crack of Zexion's whip. The pavement he'd intended to step on turned to darkness and he flailed as his foot slipped over the edge and losing hold of his blade, Sora grabbed the edge of the pavement and hauled himself up again before the pit closed. Even though he'd moved quickly, he nearly lost his foot as the portal closed. Sora dodged aside again as Zexion snapped his whip once more- ruthlessly herding the helpless Keyblade Master across the square.

Again, Sora caught a slap from that whip of darkness, this time across the stomach hard enough to send him sailing backwards and rolling even after that. Khimari roared savagely, leaping down from above to slam his spear hard into the ground that Zexion stood on. Black vines rose up from the ground around the two, and immediately, Khimari leapt away, dodging Zexion's attempt to capture him again, like Zexion had in the cemetery.

A portal opened beside the Organization member, making Zexion pause as Gary stepped out. "Are you trying to kill him?" the black haired man asked, and got a silent stare in answer, "You're exceeding your orders," Gary stated, then reminded, "Xemnas's orders were for you to open the Gates at all costs."

If he could have been, Zexion would have been irritated. As it was, his voice was clipped and short as he stated, "Winifred requires her book to open the Gates of Hell. She has yet to get it back."

Furious, Gary reached over and slapped Zexion, his hand connecting with the Nobody's head and sending the shorter man staggering. "Then assist her in _getting it_." Looking towards Sora, Gary added, "But don't kill Aros. He's mine. The others you're welcome to play with. Get! We must have the other four Princes or Xemnas's plans will fall through." All around them, the Heartless continued to run amok, attacking the few children that were left in the square unprotected. Donald and Goofy were too far away to assist Sora- he glanced their way just to verify this frightening truth. Khimari was busy herding a group of six children towards Donald. He couldn't help.

Scowling darkly at Gary, Zexion stepped back into a portal of Darkness and disappeared.

"Princes?" Sora had to ask.

Turning a superior smirk on Sora, Gary looked him over, then replied, "For every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction," he quoted, "For every light, there is an equal and opposite shadow. And for every Princess, there must be a Prince." Lifting a hand, Gary began summoning his sword, Obsidian Heart, but this time, Sora knew the signs and leapt forward, attacking preemptively.

In reaction, Gary leapt backwards, intercepting the terrified dash of a little girl with brilliant blue eyes in a round face framed by hip-length brunet hair. She was dressed as an angel, Sora guessed her to be about three. She sobbed, clutching Gary's leg as if he really could save her. "No!" Sora shouted reaching out a hand even though the distance was too far for him to do any good, "Let her go!"

Gary grinned broadly and shoved her towards Sora, then lifted his hand, summoning dark energy into his palm. Halfway there, she tripped on her own shoe and stumbled, landing on her knees as Gary's arm flashed downwards. Stepping forwards to help her, Sora didn't have time to blink. She didn't have time to scream as darkness engulfed her. The blood splattered upwards, defying gravity, splashing across him before he even had the chance to lift an arm and cover his face. And even afterwards, he stood in numb shock, staring at the smear on the pavement that had been the little girl. He stood there numb as he dripped what was left of the poor innocent child.

Pudding... she'd been turned into the consistency of pudding in an instant and exploded in a pulse of Darkness.

And Gary was laughing.

The maniacal cackle broke into Sora's thoughts- rage, pure and white hot, flowed through him, "You...sick..." Sora whispered as he lifted his head slowly to face the black haired young man, "Bastard." That single word didn't even begin to describe what Gary was in Sora's mind, but he was too innocent to know anything viler to call the man.

Catching a breath, Gary smiled at Sora. "Does that make you angry?" he sneered.

_'Give me strength!'_ Sora called in his mind, hoping to get the help of the one who'd sent him the bracer. _'This guy just killed that little girl!'_

Shockingly, a faint voice answered, _'I... I'll try...'_ and the bracer on his arm warmed.

Crouching down, Sora held his right hand out, calling his Keyblade and didn't blink when he felt weight settle into both his palms. However, the fact that the sword in his left was an unfamiliar Key did catch his attention briefly. Not long enough for him to take his eyes off Gary, though, and springing forward, Sora slashed with both blades in a scissor cut.

Summoning his own sword, Gary leapt back, doing a back flip in midair, throwing a blast of pure Darkness at Sora as he turned, grinning viciously.

In a leap powered by fury, Sora sprang up to meet the ball of darkness and cut it, dissipating the energy. Swinging Obsidian Heart, Gary blocked Sora's next double-slash and they shoved off each other midair. To regain his balance before he hit the ground, Sora threw himself into a flip and landed agilely on his feet as Gary floated to the ground some distance away. The area had cleared, the children Sora had managed so save now collected in a group protected by Khimari, Goofy, and Donald. The Heartless were staying back by Gary's silent command over them, but preventing any interference from Sora's allies.

Throwing his arms back behind him, Sora surged forward, flipping his blades around, bringing his new diamond pronged Keyblade up to strike at Gary. The attack was blocked by Gary's two-handed grip on Obsidian, and even as Sora swung his Ultimate Keyblade around, Gary's form blurred, disappearing into smoke that Sora stumbled straight through. Spinning around just in time, Sora caught Obsidian against the Keyblade in his right hand, but he was off-balance and driven back by Gary's forward rush.

Backing up quickly, Sora finally got his balance back and twisted aside, breaking Gary's momentum and swung the unfamiliar Keyblade at Gary's back, this time, connecting hard enough to make the Heartless stumble forward a step. Turning, Gary eyed Sora, "Kaiyou...?" he hissed, eyes focusing on the blade in Sora's left hand.

The name made Sora pause, nearly fatally, for Gary leapt forward again and Sora pulled his blade up in time to block the man's downwards slash, his Ultimate Keyblade stabbing in from under to catch in Gary's coat, barely missing the flesh of his enemy's side. "Oh, now you've done it," Gary hissed, "Gone and ripped my coat. Careful, I might take it out on Aros..." Shoving Sora away, Gary balanced evenly on his toes.

"What do you want with Aros?" Sora demanded.

Smirking, Gary replied, "I know that Maleficent promised me his Heart once he'd served our purposes!"

Sora surged forward, beginning another sequence of lightning fast attacks, "You leave Aros alone!" Their blades rang through the stillness that had fallen in the square as Sora forced Gary into a retreat that abruptly halted when Gary stopped simply batting Sora's attacks aside.

Catching Keyblade Master's crossed swords with a well-placed block, Gary leaned in and hissed, "And what... would you do with Aros once you won him from me?"

"I'd take him home with me!" Sora shouted, "Where he'd be free to do as he liked!"

"Like some stray animal," Gary pointed out, still leaning close in their deadlock. "He's simply a creation of Zexion's- like that doppelganger of Riku. Lacking memories, lacking a real personality, lacking purpose- it's only a matter of time before he begins to resent you and turns on you, looking for an identity separate from you! Just like Riku's clone did!"

Shaking his head, Sora pushed harder as he shouted, "Shut _up_!" finally breaking away.

Quickly stepping away from Sora's air-cutting slashes, Gary laughed and stated, "Anything that idiot thinks he remembers is a fabrication created to make him manageable. Zexion figured out how to tweak _this_ model too, to estrange it from any possibility of having a normal life! And to remind you of someone _dear_ to you..." Dancing away from another slash, Gary continued to retreat, not bothering to block Sora's swings now as he continued, "The kindest thing you could do for Aros would be to kill him."

"_Shut UP_!" Sora shouted and lunged, stabbing both blades straight towards Gary- just as Gary turned to smoke again. Off-balanced, he was unable to turn in time as Obsidian Heart flashed out of the shadows in an arc of black electricity, striking deep into Sora's side and exploding outwards, bolts of darkness climbing up his side and knocking him to the ground in screaming agony.

Gary pulled his blade free and smirked, "That's for stabbing me earlier," he stated, "Now we're even. ...for now." Flipping his hair over his shoulder, Gary continued, "I'm not going to kill you just yet, Keybrat. I want your pain to linger for a very long time- long enough for you to beg me to kill you, and then... maybe I will. After your begging grows tiresome."

Opening a portal of darkness, Gary paused, looking away, towards the other side of the square at something only he could see or sense. A slight frown touched his lips. "What have those idiots done now..." he muttered and stepped back into his portal.

Chaos broke out in the square once more as the Heartless, freed from Gary's bindings surged forward to attack anything they could. "Shora!" Donald gasped, breaking from his post, running towards Sora as he curled on the ground around his wound, a puddle of dark liquid spreading around him as the world began to darken in his gaze. His fingers felt so cold...

"Donald!" Goofy shouted, "Hurry- the Heartless-!"

He tried to blink, to move, to do something! Anything! His friends needed his help, he could hear Donald trying to fight his way over, but he was too far away still to cast a healing spell.

* * *

_AN: so I lied about the cheerleading outfit comment on the last chapter, I had to throw SOMETHING in there to make you think I was kidding on the someone dying part! _

_Next Chapter: Dreams in the transition from Dark to Light and back. Kaiyou's winter world and Laguna's field trip. _


	32. Transitions: Dark to Light

_Chapter 32_

_(Transitions: Dark to Light)_

_"Ki'you! Ki'you, where are you?"_ the voice that spoke in the darkness was faint, echoing in the distance, as if part of a memory- a memory she'd removed.

_"Ki'you!"_ the voice cried again. _"Ki'you! I can't find you. I can't find you anywhere. Please come back... come home. I promise- I'll never do that again! I'm sorry Ki'you! I'm sorry!"_ the voice was that of a child's, high-pitched and strained- screaming out into the empty lonely distance that separated them.

_"Give me strength!"_ He shouted. _"This guy just killed that little girl!"_

"I-" she whispered into the darkness of her dream, knowing that she was asleep- but he seemed so desperate- so _angry_ at the one he was facing. "I'll try." Reaching towards what was left of her heart, Kaiyou stepped into it, let go, and took hold, flinging all she had to her Positive Voice without a second thought. If he needed it, it was his to use.

-And everything went white.

Chill brushed through her and Kaiyou lifted her eyes, finding herself standing in a graveyard at the foot of a mountain. To the right was an icicle encrusted bridge leading out to an icy mound that stood out against the endless plane of jagged juts of ice, like frozen broken waves pointing towards the sky, threatening it should the Sky ever decide to fall. Turning around, Kaiyou stared around the graveyard she stood in, the ground was covered in snow and the tombstones were blurred by a thick coating of snow. But the stone she stood in front of was clear, as if recently brushed off, the carving on it revealed.

_Beelzebub_ it read in thick firm letters.

"And everything Beelzebub stood for..." Kaiyou said softly, staring down at the tombstone and contemplating it. What _had_ Beel stood for? It took a moment for her to remember, but finally, she answered her own question, "My desire to protect the innocent... from then on, all my attempts to help people that needed defending failed. What about all the other things I've ever believe to be the Right Thing to Do?" she looked out across the graveyard- so many of them...

Her eyes drifted past the tombstones to the figure of her Negative Voice, striding towards her between the snow-covered stones in a purposeful walk that defied all stereotypes of her gender and denied the fact that she was wearing a short curve-clinging dress. Admittedly, Umi was built just like Kaiyou and didn't have much to show off, but Kaiyou was envious of how sexy Umi looked despite her masculine walk. It was like a man's purposeful stalk- as if heading into battle. Maybe it was the multitude of spikes?

_"Kaiyou,"_ Umi said, crunching through the snow to stand in front of her, her long blonde hair floating around her in a halo, somehow touched by brilliant light despite the overcast sky. _"Sora is in trouble. He needs your help."_

Shaking her head, Kaiyou clutched her bouquet of dead roses against the white bodice of her dress, "What could _I_ possibly do for him?" she asked.

_"Give him the strength he needs to survive,"_ Umi stated, _"That's what a good sister would do for her brother."_

"That's just make-believe," Kaiyou stated. "I just made it up and wrote it in my diary because I was so desperate for family."

_"Even so. Some make-believe things can become true. You already know this from the negative vantage point. You've brought true every prophecy of doom ever cast upon you,"_ Umi stepped closer and lifted Kaiyou's veil, _"Open your eyes to it, Kaiyou. He wants to be with you. He's willing to open his heart to you and let you become his sibling, even if it was make-believe to start with."_

Ocean blue eyes lifted and met their mirror, "You say it's my fault my life has been so bad." Kaiyou accused, tears freezing on her cheeks.

_"I didn't say that. I said you have the power of belief, Kaiyou,"_ Umi said, _"You believed their lies. Believe this lie with as much conviction as you've believed all the others and it will come true. ...You'll have someone to stand beside at last- someone who can teach you how to stand beside him as an equal and not just a shadow. But you have to help him now, or he'll die... Gary hurt him pretty badly."_

The roses dropped to the ground, black on white, "Gary hurt him?" Kaiyou clutched Umi's fingers. "No-! Gary... Gary is my enemy! Why is he fighting my enemy?"

_"To protect your honor,"_ Umi replied evenly, _"He is at heart, a Knight."_

More ice-drops of tears slid down her cheeks, falling like diamonds to the ground, "What do I have left to send him?"

_"Yourself."_

-And everything went dark.

"Sora?" she called, stepping forward, her white skirts rustling around her feet. The darkness resolved into a form, something she could see in- as if she were casting light out into the darkness. Or perhaps reflecting it, like the moon? Stepping forward, she clasped her hands in front of her chest, peering out into the darkness, "Sora!" she shouted more firmly.

_"...Ki'you?"_

Hurrying forward, she forged through the darkness, her veil fluttering, hair turned hip-length. _'Why am I in the body of a three-year-old?'_ she couldn't help but think as she ran.

Stumbling to a stop as she came upon him, Kaiyou bit her lower lip, eyes stinging.

Sora was lying partially on his stomach, bleeding profusely from a deep wound in his side that was trailing dark mist. "No-" she gasped, "Gary did this to you- didn't he?" Firmly, she stepped forward, "I- I won't let him!"

Kneeling beside Sora, she rolled him over and looked at his face, put her hands to his pallid cheeks. Sky-blue eyes rolled open and he stared at her. _"Ki'you,"_ he whispered, lifting a hand to touch her, _"...I knew you'd gone to heaven..."_ He sounded delirious, as if things were slipping in and out of his consciousness and he had no idea what he was saying.

"If this is heaven, I'd hate to see hell," she told him, "Now wake up you lazy bum! You can't let Gary win!" her eyes stung, "How can you be my brother if you're dead?"

_"I..."_ Sora blinked at her, _"...that little girl... looked like you,"_ he said softly, _"Ki'you... he exploded her! All over me..."_ he squeezed his eyes shut and coughed a sob. She could feel his guilt- like a palpable substance radiating from him.

Kaiyou cupped his face between her hands, the images filtering into her mind as he relived them in nightmare clarity. "I- I'm sorry," she told him, "Gary is just like that. He's taken a hating to you, and now that he knows killing children in front of you will make you pause, he'll do it till you grow numb. Sora..." petting his spiky hair back from his face, Kaiyou leaned down and placed a kiss on his forehead, "You have to fight him for me... I can't... I'm too afraid of him. ...But if I can't fight him, I _can_ take the memories of the things he does to you. I'll make them distant so you can fight on."

Opening his eyes, Sora looked up at her, _"Ki'you- you shouldn't see things like that..."_

"You think I'm innocent?" she snorted at him. "You're wasting your time. Literally and figuratively. The darkness is eating at you. Fight it!"

Finding the strength to nod, Sora closed his eyes and let his head drop back as he took a breath.

-And all turned to white in a shattering crash that sent the shards of darkness cascading down like pieces of a mirror.

Kaiyou stirred, twisting in an effort to struggle through the syrup that slowed her movements. "Sora?" she called, blinded and wanting to open her eyes, but finding it impossible to.

"Aros?"

Shooting to her feet with a gasp, Kaiyou blinked and looked around, finding that she was halfway across the room from where Dagger sat beside where Kaiyou had been laying- where Dagger had touched her shoulder and whispered softly to awaken her. "Oh- I'm sorry," Dagger said softly, eyes wide, shoulder still trailing the blanket she'd been lent.

Leaning forward, Kaiyou put her hands on her knees, concentrating on breathing. "No," the girl wheezed, "I- It was a dream," she straightened, "You startled me, that's all." Pushing a smile onto her lips, Kaiyou tried to reassure Dagger with it, but the princess only looked more concerned. Lifting her eyes, she looked around Dani's room, which they'd been lent for the few hours they'd needed to sleep. Laguna's pile of blankets was still and quiet, lumpy and wrapped in a way that immediately made Kaiyou suspicious.

Before Kaiyou could react, Dagger stepped over to her, hands lifting, "You're crying," she said softly, "Why? Was the dream so bad?"

Alarmed, Kaiyou wiped at her own face, hurriedly backpedaling from Dagger, nearly tripping over the end of Dani's bed as she backed into the footboard, "No. No. It's fine! I'm fine, really!" she said, and honestly wasn't sure why she was crying, for her heart didn't hurt as if she'd remembered something, and she wasn't frightened. No, actually... she felt sort of warmed by that make-believe encounter with Sora. She wanted to pretend that she'd helped him somehow. She could still remember the vision of the little brunet girl getting splattered by Gary. It made her sick, but she wasn't surprised. It was something Gary would do.

Poor Sora, if he'd had to see that... it was better she kept his memory, gave him some distance from it till he had the time to sit and think about it and realize that there was nothing he could have done to save the girl. "Please, Dagger," Kaiyou shook her head, coming out of her thoughts, "I'm sorry if I woke you, it was just a dream. I'm fine now."

Still quite far from being reassured, Dagger nodded and stepped back, then returned to her temporary bedding, leaving Kaiyou to her thoughts. As Kaiyou had requested, but why did part of her want Dagger to keep pestering? Masochism, she decided and looked around Dani's cluttered room. There were boxes piled in the corner, toys shoved to the side of the room, and the bed was unmade. But then again, the blankets had gone to Dagger, Kaiyou, and Laguna, so making the bed was out of the question. There was nothing that she could clean to take her mind off of things, so her usual way of working off stress and bad dreams was out. Thinking hard, she crept from the room and out into the hall, intent on finding something, somewhere, that she could do.

Heading downstairs, Kaiyou stepped into the living room and looked around, spotting a lamp in the dim moonlight next to the foot of the stairs. Turning it on, her eyes fell upon the bookshelf across the way and the thought occurred to her with a gasp. Dropping her hand to her side-pack, Kaiyou opened it and pulled out the green book. "I still haven't looked at this," she whispered and headed towards a chair, kicking off her sneakers, and curled up in it after turning on the lamp beside the chair.

Opening it, she began trying to decipher the purpose of the weapon that was diagramed in the book.

* * *

Laguna jogged down the street, now eerily silent without the Heartless around. The sky to the north was still smudged with green smoke, which was reassuring in its own odd way. "Still think we should have cut their heads off," he muttered under his breath. What he was doing out here was- well, he wanted it to be secret from Aros, since she seemed so terrified of Sora, but Laguna had to check what he'd _thought_ he'd seen on their way to the high school, leading the witches there for their date with the kiln. 

And what he'd _thought_ he'd seen was Sora, Khimari, Donald, and Goofy fortifying the town square against the Heartless.

Rounding a corner, Laguna stumbled to a stop. Yep. Apparently, he had indeed seen what he'd _thought_ he'd seen.

The area was a mess, the pavement cracked and blasted, blood splattered everywhere, a large knot of frightened people huddling against the library, too terrified to come out even though the Heartless were gone. Some were wounded, there were bodies. And in the center were a giant duck, giant bi-pedal dog, and a Rhonso, standing over a prone figure in black shorts.

"Shora! Wake up! Shora!" Donald was shouting at the brunet boy sprawled on the ground, slapping his face. The crowd of frightened townsfolk was keeping back; standing quite a ways away. Goofy was just standing there bawling his eyes out, of no help at all, and the Rhonso looked worried but was keeping an eye out for Heartless. Some habits were hard to break.

Eyes focusing on Sora, Laguna throttled his rising emotions back down into the pit of his stomach and broke into a run, pelting over to drop to one knee beside Sora and Donald. "What happened?" he asked Donald breathlessly.

"Laguna!" the duck gasped, "What're you doing here? Where'sh Arosh?"

"Nailed down for the time being," he replied, "what happened to _Sora_?" _'His mother is going to KILL me if he's dead...'_

Shaking his head, which possibly rattled his wits into place, Donald replied, "Gary showed up and they started fighting and Gary stabbed him! He'sh healed but ishn't breathing!"

Pulling Sora's jacket aside, Laguna leaned down and put his ear to the boy's chest. "Heart's still beating," he observed, then listened at Sora's pale blue-tinted lips. "You're right, he's not breathing." Adjusting the boy's head, Laguna prepared himself by taking a deep breath, and bent down.

"_Wahhhahhgh!_ Laguna! What're you doing!" Donald flailed, watching as Laguna drew back, took another breath and bent down again. Another repetition and the mage drew back, placing both hands together on the boy's chest.

Blood gurgled up between Sora's lips, trailing down his cheek and into his hair.

Then he coughed hard, eyes flying open as he gasped for air- inhaled blood and coughed again. "Sora!" Goofy called in joy, leaping into the air. Keeping Donald from trying to 'helpfully' pound Sora's back and Goofy from throwing himself at the half-dead kid, Laguna rolled him over and allowed Sora's own body to do what it needed to. Goofy turned his enthusiasm on Khimari and grabbed hold of the guarding Rhonso in a hug.

Finally, when he stopped coughing so hard, Sora pushed himself onto his elbows. "... Laguna- what... What're you doing here?" he gagged and coughed again, wiping the corner of his mouth with his hand.

"We'd passed by an hour ago, but were too busy being chased by some witches to come help. Sorry! I would have had us detour otherwise. I got Aros to go to sleep and came back," Laguna replied, "Good thing too, or Donald here would have a malpractice suit on his hands." He grinned, watching as Sora wiped his mouth with his hand. The boy stared blankly, not getting Laguna's joke at all.

"Take me to Aros?" Sora requested instead.

He hardly looked capable of sitting upright without assistance, let alone walking, but when he turned those large pleading eyes on Laguna, all the mage could do was nod and ask, "Is everything secured here?" Silently, he wondered, _'How'd he get blue eyes anyway? His mother's are brown.'_

Looking towards Donald, Sora asked, "Can you take care of them?" he looked towards the townsfolk that were watching in fright. Looking around, the duck sighed, then nodded.

"Come back shoon, though!"

Nodding, Sora reached over to Laguna, who helped him up. Weakly, he leaned on the taller man, still coughing occasionally as he watched the ground beneath his feet instead of the area. "Gary..." Sora whispered softly, "I'll get him back for that..."

"For what?" Laguna asked.

Without looking up, Sora's expression darkened, "He killed a..." he paused, "I ...guess Ki'you _did_ take the memory from me." He closed his eyes briefly and coughed. "Who _is_ Ki'you?"

"Ki'you..." Laguna murmured, looking down at Sora with a speculative expression, "Kaiyou..."

Lost in his own thoughts, Sora didn't notice.

* * *

"Avez-vous vu mon livre?" she said in a mock pleasant voice as she gave one last blast to the kiln door that finally had it crashing to the floor. 

Winnie growled, hair standing on end, smoking, as she stepped onto the door and out of the kiln. "Have you seen my _book_?" she translated, fury barely controlled in her voice.

Mary and Sarah cowered behind her, coughing and waving smoke from their faces. Acrid smoke that tasted like a potion to summon a demon gone _VERY_ wrong.

"Ladies, ladies," a voice said from the darkness, "You look a little worse for the wear..."

"_You_!" Winnie shouted, pointing a finger at the man with long dark hair streaked with silver, "Thou incompetent fool! Where hast thou _been_?"

"Dealing with the Keybrat and his allies," Xigbar replied, scowling at the witch. He was growing to seriously hate witches. First Maleficent, now these three idiots- Sarah was making eyes at him again.

Flailing her fists, Winnie stomped with a hard clang on the kiln door she stood on, "They were _here_!" she shrieked, "The Keybrat, his allies, and those monstrous _children_ that stole my _book_ which I need to look up the spell to open the Gates!"

Xigbar snorted, "Look lady," he stated, "Your book is _your_ deal. We gave you use of the Heartless to help you get it back."

Stalking across the room towards him, Winnie stabbed a sharp fingernail up towards his nose, "Look thou- thou _pea_-brained imbecile! I'd sooner slit my own throat than let the Heartless get their grubby mitts on my book! So thou canst take thy Heartless and thy 'deal' and shove them somewhere unseemly unless you get _personally_ involved in getting my book back!"

"Now, now, my dear sweet Winifred," another voice murmured, and she turned, watching as the young man stepped into the room, long white coat floating around his ankles as he walked. Coming to a stop before her, Gary leaned down and brushed the rose he held against her lips, "Temper doesn't become you, my sweet. You'll have to forgive this peon. He's _just_ a Nobody, I think he lost his brains and initiative along with his heart. I assure you, M'Lady, you may trust the Heartless, we've no intentions upon your book- after all, it's useless to us when what we really want is your skills."

"So honest," Winnie purred, watching as Gary took her hand and kissed the back of it lightly, then tucked her hand under his arm. Sarah pouted as Gary outright ignored her.

Smiling at her, Gary replied, "Of course, I've got nothing to gain from lying to you. Let us go retrieve your book, then, my dear."

"Thou knowest where it is?" she asked breathlessly.

"Not at the moment," Gary admitted, "But I know how to find out."

* * *

_AN: Hehe, he was only MOSTLY dead, which none of you really believed in the first place. What kept him alive was the desire to be with his True Love, like Westly from the Princess Bride, which I really wish was Disney, but it isn't so I can't have them face off against Prince Humperdinck in THIS fic. Please tell me if there's any issues in the text that need fixing!_

_Next Chapter: Allison has an epiphany, disaster strikes, and conversations in the car._


	33. A Circle of Salt

_Chapter 33_

_(A Circle of Salt)_

Yawning, Allison stretched languidly, blinking as the warm body she lay against stirred. Looking back over her shoulder, she smiled. "Hi," she greeted, which caused Max to smile back at her.

"Hi," he said.

Silence fell between them again as Allison shifted, looking around for a clock of some kind, finally locating Max's alarm clock on the shelf next to her. "Oh my gosh!" she whispered, "My dad's gonna kill me!" Leaning over, Max peered at the time, wincing. Five in the morning.

Unable to help himself, Max yawned again, "Well, if he's gonna kill you anyway, why not make it worth it?" he offered. She eyed him, possibly taking his words the wrong way, "Stay and have breakfast with us," he offered, oblivious to the track her mind had taken.

Relieved that he meant nothing dirty, Allison smiled, "I should get home," she replied, "You haven't met Dad yet, he's a real stickler for rules. Maybe I can sneak in?"

"After all the trouble there's been tonight, you can just say you were hiding?" Max offered.

She looked away, "I hope they're okay," she whispered, her eyes falling upon Binx where he lay sprawled across Max's bed next to Dani. "Poor Binx... I wonder if there's anything we can do to help him?"

Following her gaze, Max heaved a sigh, "Don't know, really..."

As silence fell between them again, Allison turned and set the clock back on the shelf beside her, her hand touching the cover of Winifred's spell book. "Hey!" she whispered, "Maybe there's something in here?"

Reluctant to let her go, but curious, Max finally sat up, watching as Allison pulled the book over. "Binx said not to open that," he reminded.

"But the witches are dead, what harm can it do?" she pointed out.

Smiling wryly, Max could only shrug as he answered, "Well, be careful."

In turn, she grinned at him, "I will... hold my hand?"

Shuffling around to sit beside her, Max clasped her hand as she unlatched the belt on the book and opened it, flipping the first few pages. "Nothing weird so far..." she whispered, leaning over the book. Silently sitting with their heads together, the teens flipped through the pages, Allison stopping briefly, "Oh, listen to this: Only a circle of salt can protect thy victims from thy power-"

"No!"

Jumping back, the book slipped from Allison's lap, landing on the floor, Binx pouncing on the cover firmly, "I told you to stay out of that!" he hissed, tail lashing.

"But-" Allison stared.

Max managed to finish, "We were just trying to help you..."

Shaking himself, slightly in embarrassment for their concern and slightly to get his fur to lay flat after puffing it up, Binx said, "Well, don't," then modified his tone, "Nothing good can come of that book."

Heaving a sigh, Allison shook her head and reached down to scratch Binx's head, then stood, "I'd better get home then."

Standing as well, Max followed her to the bedroom door and stepped out, carefully closing the door behind them, "I wish you'd stay," Max offered wistfully, walking with her.

Regretfully, she cast a smile at him, "Though, I'd feel better if I had some salt."

Breaking into a grin, he spoke as he led the way down the hall to the stairs, "I can accommodate that, I think."

Giggling as she followed, Allison paused, "There's a light on down there..." Together, they stopped at the top of the stairs and peered down, listening intently for any sound of movement, but there were none, and the two exchanged looks. "Maybe it was left on by your parents?" she suggested, trying to put a rational explanation to the situation before it began to truly frighten her.

Nodding, Max took the lead down the stairs, peering cautiously around the living room, and stopped with a relieved sigh. "Oh, Aros-" Allison started to say as she recognized the figure in one of the chairs in the living room, then paused, peering more closely at the still form of their visiting Keyblade Master, "he's asleep..." she sniggered.

Creeping silently, Max and Allison approached the lounge chair where Kaiyou was, again, passed out, sitting sideways with her legs over one arm of the chair and partially falling off the other side in what had to be an uncomfortable position, but she managed to sprawl in it bonelessly anyway. In her lap rested a green book, opened to the fourth page and held there by a closed-fingered hand flopped across it. The lamp next to the chair picked out the faint writing and the wrinkle between Kaiyou's brows as she frowned even in her sleep.

"Geez," Max whispered, "doesn't he ever quit with the scowls?"

Rolling her eyes at Max, Allison reached over to the book and carefully plucked it from Kaiyou's lap, causing her fingers to uncurl. The sound of something hitting the floor caught Allison's attention before she could look at the book and she leaned down again. Taking the book from Allison as she bent down, Max frowned, "What're these diagrams for?" he turned the book over and over again, trying to make sense of the pictures.

In her sleep, Kaiyou murmured, "...Sora..?" and shifted, fingers flexing as she seemed to be trying to grab something.

Kneeling, Allison picked up one of the objects that had fallen from Kaiyou's hand and lifted the rose hairclip into the light to stare at. Turning it in the light slowly, Allison's eyes drifted towards Kaiyou as realization dawned on her. Reaching over, she carefully opened Kaiyou's side-pack, stuffed the hairclip into it, then reached up and took the book from Max. Shoving the book in as carefully as she could without waking Kaiyou, Allison tossed the couch blanket over Kaiyou and grabbed Max, hauling him into the kitchen.

"Max!" Allison hissed as he sputtered protests at her, "Aros is a _girl_!"

This caught Max's attention and he blinked, "A- a _girl_? You're kidding!"

Pressing a hand to his lips, Allison hissed, "Shh!"

"But!" Max whispered urgently at her after pulling her hand down, "You're sure?"

Turning, Allison peered around the corner at Kaiyou, still deeply asleep in her uncomfortable pose. "She's got breasts, Max. And if you look at her face-"

Something banged.

Turning, the two teens in the kitchen peered out into the living room to find Kaiyou sprawled on the floor and slowly picking herself up, rubbing her head, as if she'd landed on it. Max frowned slightly, "You alright, Aros?"

Yawning, she stretched her arms over her head and mumbled something. Whatever she'd tried to say wasn't obvious, but she blinked and reached over, picking up another rose hairclip from the floor.

Cautiously stepping out of the kitchen, Allison asked, "That yours?" as Max turned and shuffled through the pantry for a can of salt. He returned just in time for Kaiyou to blush to the roots of her hair.

Sputtering briefly, Kaiyou stuffed the offending hairclip into her side-pack, "N-no! Of course not! I- I mean... it's Dagger's! She just... doesn't have any pockets, you know?"

Another bang from upstairs made all three of them pause. "Must be Laguna..."

"Unless he's climbing in through the window, I don't think so," Kaiyou replied as she got to her feet and pulled the book out of the side-pack Allison had put it in and transferred it to the other side where it fit better. "He snuck out while we were sleeping."

"Dani!" Max guessed and dashed up the stairs, Allison on his heels. Kaiyou followed as well, though at a slightly slower pace and broke off to check Dani's room while Max and Allison headed onwards to the end of the hall.

"Dagger-" Kaiyou started, then swallowed her words as her sleep-blurred eyes focused in the darkness.

Casually standing on the other side of the room, Dagger limp over his shoulder, Gary smiled sadistically, glee lighting his eyes as he recognized the pained look in Kaiyou's eyes. "If you want her back, come to the cemetery." With that, he stepped back into a portal of Darkness and called, "Come alone!" as the portal closed.

Terrified, Kaiyou stumbled from the room, slamming the door to Max's room open just as the roof exploded outwards, Dani shrieking at the top of her lungs as Winifred carried her off into the night sky. Kaiyou staggered across the rubble-strewn room towards her native friends but stopped as Max rounded on her, "How could you let this happen?" he shouted, making Kaiyou's breath hitch in her throat.

Eyes stinging, Kaiyou just stood there, jaw locked over what she should have said- but she couldn't even breathe. _'Dagger got kidnapped too, you know!'_ she wanted to shout at him. Instead, she just stood there trembling.

"Max!" Allison said, interceding, "It's not Aros's fault!"

_'Yes it is!'_ Kaiyou shouted in her mind. _'It wouldn't have happened if I'd stayed up here instead of going off downstairs. I screwed things up again!'_

"S-sorry..." Kaiyou whispered, but Max had already rushed past her, Allison following.

"Aros!" Max called from the hall, "Where's Dagger?"

She couldn't even answer that, standing there staring at the floor, arms wrapped around her shoulders as chill depression settled like a cloak around her. _'I knew I shouldn't have let myself care about her! I knew it!'_

"Aros!" Max stomped back into the room, grabbing her shoulder and spinning her around, to ask directly into her face, "where's Dagger?"

All she could do was stare at him, feeling so guilty that she couldn't answer and admit that she'd screwed up, so instead she simply stood there. "Max! She's not in here either," Allison called, then re-entered the room and paused before coming over, "Max! Stop it, you're scaring her! It's not her fault. It's not anyone's fault."

Releasing Kaiyou before the blonde could get over to them, Max stomped away flinging his arms into the air and slamming a foot down on the floor in impotent fury. Slowly, Kaiyou's knees gave out, and she sank to the floor, clutching her pants, head hanging. _'They hate me now. I screwed up. I screwed up so bad and they hate me now!'_

Striding over, Allison knelt, placing her hands on Kaiyou's shoulders, "Aros," she said softly, "Aros- it's not your fault."

"It...is..." Kaiyou pushed out finally, speaking from beneath a curtain of hair, "Gary... took her..."

"Gary!" Max shouted, "That guy you said was a snake? Winifred has Dani!"

Clenching her teeth, Kaiyou shook her head and pulled a shaking breath in through her nose, "You... You follow Winifred," she whispered, "I'll go get Dagger. ...Gary is... is my enemy." It wasn't that she really wanted to go _face_ Gary, but facing Allison and Max in her shame wasn't any more pleasant than the alternative. Her only refuge lay in the solitude between Max's house and her destination- the cemetery.

Pushing herself to her feet abruptly, Kaiyou staggered past Allison before she could reach out and stop the taller girl. Breaking into a run, she thumped down the stairs and threw the front door opened, slamming it behind her.

Blinded by tears, Kaiyou tore through the night, racing up the street towards the cemetery on the other side of town. _'Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!'_ she chanted mentally, drowning out all external sounds but her banging heart and the thumping of her feet on the pavement.

* * *

Almost... They were almost to their destination. Laguna sighed, wishing Sora were just a little shorter, or lighter, because if he were, the mage would have just slung Sora over his shoulder and been on his way. But no, they were nearly of a height and Laguna was stuck dragging the stumbling Sora along a road that had only taken him ten minutes to run down before, now it was taking twice as long to get back to Max's house.

"What's that?" Sora asked, lifting his head to peer up at the sky. He was so used to weird things that he hardly thought twice about seeing three women riding various cleaning equipment across the sky. All he did was notice and ask vaguely about the phenomenon.

Looking up, Laguna nearly dropped the younger brunet to the pavement, "Th-the witches!" he gasped, and caught his breath as a familiar voice shrieked at the top of her lungs.

_"Put me down! Put me down! You ugly hags! You're gonna pay for this!"_

"Dani!" Laguna identified.

"Aros!" Sora added as a figure went pelting past them- not more than an arm's length away and didn't even seem to notice. Sora lunged out of Laguna's grip and toppled to the ground, landing hard. "Aros!" he howled, finding the strength to push himself to his feet as his Copy-Cat turned a corner and was out of sight.

Shortly afterwards, a truck came screeching around the corner and Laguna flailed his arms at the headlights. Breaks squealing, the vehicle stopped, Max leaning out the driver's side window, "Where have _you_ been? Get in!"

Opening the door, Laguna hauled Sora up and shoved him in. "Take him with you, I'm heading after Aros!"

"_Laguna_!" Sora wailed, flailing as the mage slammed the door shut and took off, "_LAGUNA!_"

Both parties ignoring Sora's protests, Laguna turned and started running, Max pumped the gas and took off with a screech of the tires, barreling down the streets at an insane speed. Turning in her seat, Allison paused, staring at the boy that was nearly covered head to toe in blood. "Uh... who're you?" she asked him, having a suspicion, but not wanting to just blurt it.

Sora sighed, "I'm Sora. I guess you've met Aros already?" she nodded. "I'm trying to catch up with him, but ...he seems to think I'm mad at him," Sora shook his head and scrubbed his hair, breaking off clumps of dried blood. "Ugh..."

"Do you have a Keyblade too?" Max asked without looking back, "Because where we're going, I think we'll need one."

Nodding, Sora took a breath, "Yeah. So long as I don't have to fight Gary again..."

"Gary- you've met him too?" Allison asked.

"Yeah. He nearly killed me not more than half an hour ago. Lucky I had friends with healing spells," Sora shook his head, picking at his shirt then paused, as if he would say something more, then decided against it. Instead, Sora cast a smile at Allison who was still peering at him from around her seat. "I'm still good for another round with anyone else though!" he said cheerfully.

Shaking her head slightly, Allison replied, "If you say so. I'm Allison, this is Max. His little sister, Dani, just got kidnapped by Winifred and her sisters and Dagger was taken by Gary. Aros took off after him, but I don't know to where."

Sora sighed and looked out the window with a slight frown pulling his lips, "Oh!" he leaned forward, "The square- stop by the square!"

"Why?"

"Donald, Goofy, and Khimari are there, they can help!"

Swinging around a corner hard enough to send Sora sprawling to the other side of the truck, Max stomped on the breaks and turned again, "Sorry- but the square's not on our route, Sora. I've got to get Dani back before the witches kill her!"

Desperately, Sora flailed and grabbed the headrests of both seats and leaned forward between them, peering at Max for a moment, then nodded. "Alright," he stated, "I understand. I'll do my best then."

"What?" Max blinked, "You're giving up just like that?"

"Little sisters are irreplaceable," Sora replied, then checked his expression and smiled, "I'll help you get yours back. We'll be in time to save her!"

Snorting, Max couldn't help but point out, "You sound like Binx..." Shaking his head, the boy continued, "But how are we going to destroy the witches?" he asked rhetorically, "we need a miracle."

"Winifred said..." Allison started, then paused as she tried to recall, "The candle's magic will soon be spent... and dawn approaches. The black fame candle only brought them back for this one Halloween night! And unless they can steal the lives of children, when the sun comes up they're dust!"

"Then... let's make the sun come up!" Max grinned.

Distractions aside, he turned his full attention to driving as Sora wondered who in the world Binx was. Skidding to a halt, Sora looked out the passenger-side window, at a run down old house. Max shifted the car into reverse, then forward again, turning the wheel to point the car towards the house. "Alright- Allison, when I give the signal, turn the high-beams on. Sora?" looking back, Max winced, "Come with me."

With a firm nod, Sora gathered what was left of his energy and pushed the car door open, hopped out and jogged after Max as he leapt the low stone wall surrounding the house and ran towards the front door. As he ran, Sora focusing his mind and calling his Keyblades but only the Ultimate answered. The other one, which he'd decided to call Diamond Heart, refused to appear.

At a dead run Max hit the door to the witch's house with a hard kick, breaking the aged lock and splintering wood. "Hey!" he shouted as they burst into the room.

The scene they'd exploded into was chaotic- with the three witches crowded around a high-backed wooden chair into which a young redhead girl was tied. Sarah and Mary were trying to forcefully open the girl's mouth while Winifred held a large spoon. Taking advantage of the distraction, Dani turned her head and sank her teeth into Mary's hand, biting down as hard as she could. Shrieking in pain, the witch flailed and finally pulled her hand free, slapping away the giant spoon Winnie was aiming at the girl.

"Max!" Dani shrieked flailing in the chair, "Aros!"

Her struggles were halted as Winnie latched a long-nailed hand around the girl's neck. "One step and I'll rip out her throat!"

Shifting uncomfortably, Max looked around for some sort of courage, finally meeting Sora's confident gaze. "Winifred- prepare to die again!"

"You have no powers here, you fool!" Winnie announced, unimpressed with Max, or Sora for that matter since she'd not seen Kaiyou in action. In fact, she'd been given a very skewed idea of what either of the Keyblade Masters were capable of.

"Maybe not-" Max hesitated, his eyes focusing on Dani this time, "But there's a greater power than your magic!"

Snorting derisively, Winnie replied, "Oh, and what's that?" Behind her, Mary was still whimpering, dabbing at the blood welling up from the gashes on her hand. Sarah was eyeing Sora speculatively and casting cute smiles his direction.

Gleefully grinning as Winnie just handed him the line, Max replied, "Technology! Are you prepared for 'Daylight Savings'? Pump it Allison!" Sora was in motion even before the blinding light of the SUV's high beams had come on, quick-stepping into the room and swinging his blade around to slice the bonds that held Dani.

Winnie shrieked, "Ahh! The sun!" flailing her arms as she staggered away, her blind path leading into a collision with her sisters and knocking all three of them down. Savagely, Max kicked the pot of boiling green liquid, dumping the potion across the floor as Dani went running for the door, followed by Sora.

"Max!" another voice called, "Over here! Hot cat! Hot Cat!" Jumping over the prone witches, Max nabbed the struggling bag hanging over the fire and dashed out the door after Sora and Dani, leaping into the driver's seat.

Kicking the car into reverse as soon as the back doors closed, Max gasped over his shoulder, "Where to?" Stomping the gas, the car roughly peeled out and turned around.

Released from the bag, Binx shook himself, "The cemetery's the safest place."

"You're not Aros!" Dani gasped.

Sora grinned, "Nope! I'm Sora. Nice to meet you!"

"Sora?" Dani mused. "Wow. Aros is your name backwards!"

Proudly nodding, Sora replied, "Yeah, I made that up."

"So Aros isn't really his name?" Max asked, peeved, "Then what _is_?"

Confused and unable to answer that, Sora replied, "I don't know, maybe he doesn't either."

"I thought I heard Dagger calling him something else," Binx stated. Shaking his head, Binx climbed up Allison's shoulder to peer back and folded his ears down, "Honestly, though, as if the situation weren't confusing enough..." he sighed.

Shrugging, Sora replied, "Eh, you get used to it. Or I have at least."

* * *

_AN: OMG! The reviewer 'Aros is my Hero' ROCKS! He/she made me SQUEE myself into unconsciousness in all sorts of happiness! If you'd left your email, I would have replied to your questions and stuffages, but as is: Yes, Kaiyou is 16 and I've worked Sora, Kairi, and Riku's ages into later chapters- like ch38-40 ;.; I couldn't figure out anywhere else that I could have a character make a comment on it and have it not be out of the blue and odd.   
And as for Kaiyou having doubts and stuff... well, I just love being cruel to her! Angst is such a wonderful thing to write about!   
On the topic of Sora not being on a sugar high all the time, well. O.o; I just couldn't bring myself to write him like that because that's not even 2-dimensional, that's a flat boring character in my opinion. Hyper-Sora is okay for crackfics but not for angst ridden pieces like this story. So! Sora gets backstory and ANGST! Sora says "Nooooo!" +EmoTears+.   
Ha, now that I think on it, Riku's the only character in cannon Kingdom Hearts that has any sort of character development. However, that doesn't mean that I don't love the others still.   
On the topic of the Princess Bride, well, I'm trying to do just Disney movies for the worlds they visit, or original worlds that actually appeared in the game. So, yeah, Hocus Pocus and Who Framed Roger Rabbit both belong to Disney in some form or fashion._

_Next Chapter: Dagger asks an important question and actually gets an answer! Also, what terror does the touch of Darkness bring and how deeply can the poisons left behind seep into a broken heart?_


	34. Hang Onto Your Heart

_Chapter 34_

_(Hang Onto Your Heart)_

With a yelp, Dagger landed hard on the ground as Gary dropped her. "You creep!" the princess fussed at him, hair bouncing on her shoulders as she kicked the ground with her heels, "How dare you treat me like this!"

Looking down at her, Gary laughed, "So spoiled!" he mused, "What a luxury." Rubbing his chin, he paced away from her.

Shaking her head, she pushed her hair back from her face and looked around. Once more, she was in the cemetery, sitting next to an old gravestone that was covered in moss. _Emily Binx_ it read.

Tongue flicking across her lips, Dagger turned and looked up at Gary as he stood a short distance away, arms crossed. "Why do you hate Aros so much?" she had to ask, because there was no better place to get the answer than from the source.

Partially turning, Gary smirked, "Aros? Oh... you mean Kaiyou."

Dagger nodded, "Why do you hate him?"

For a long moment, she feared that he wouldn't answer, his expression had gone very cold, as if she'd derailed his plans to have some fun. Which she might have, and after a moment, Dagger thought she'd figured it out. Perhaps Gary hadn't expected Kaiyou to tell Dagger her real name.

"Because... he meddles," Gary said finally and smirked, as if coming to a decision, "I suppose to truly make you understand, I'll have to go back a ways. You see, he and I were in the same orphanage when we were younger, and back then, I admit my games weren't as refined as they are now, but even back then, Kaiyou was my rival. You see, he was the new kid in the place and I thought he would be easy pickings. Especially since I could tell there was something _strange_ about him, as if he wasn't fully there. I know the reason for that now. How delightful it will be to tell him all about what he _really_ is. It would just crush him!"

Stifling his chuckles behind a hand, Gary shrugged and continued, beginning to pace around Dagger like a stalking wolf, "At first, our relationship was fine- Kaiyou would get picked on by someone else and he'd go running to me. I'd beat up the loser that dared infringe on my victim and then I'd turn on Kaiyou, telling him that everything was his fault. He believed me, and pretty soon, anything that went wrong around the place, he immediately denied having any connection with, which only made it look like he'd done it." Laughing, Gary rubbed his hands, "Yes, I did a wonderful job programming him!"

Dagger's eyes widened, hands going to her mouth.

_"I wish people wouldn't YELL at me, scared or not!"_ Kaiyou had whispered, tears glittering in her eyes.

Smile fading, Gary turned towards her and continued, "However, when I started making more direct moves against him, I found that whatever I did to him, he'd completely forget it two days later and yet was wary of me afterwards. I could never quite find the right button to push to destroy all hope for him. And later, when we were older and in the same foster home, long after I'd turned my focus to destroying the hearts of just girls, Kaiyou continually got in my way- warning the more Challenging subjects about my ways."

Casually, the Heartless Lord stated, "Oh, sure, I still got a few of them, but they weren't as fun as the ones I'd originally had my sights set on destroying and afterwards my reputation there was ruined and I could no longer play my games with anyone. I grew to despise Kaiyou, he was just a game to start with, but now it's Personal and I have sworn that I will have his heart- I will rip out his soul, and destroy his body, if it's the last thing I do."

Wickedly, Gary smiled, "As for Sora... Sora has also gotten on my bad side. Though he's a self sacrificing idiot, he's a powerful idiot none the less and I think _his_ heart will make a lovely addition to my collection. I can put it on my self. Next to his sister's."

Flicking his eyes towards her, Gary pursed his lips, as if judging her by her reactions to his words. In all honesty, Dagger felt sick. "You're disgusting," she stated.

Nonchalantly shrugging, Gary replied, "I might be..." stepping over, he leaned down with a smirk, "Oh, but I haven't gotten to the best part yet- ...Your part in all of this."

Straightening, he stepped back as she kicked at him. "You leave me out of this!"

"Oh- no! I couldn't possibly leave you out of this. You see, at first I'd taken you for a personal agenda, however, now that you've gotten so close to Kaiyou, I think I see another way to use you," Gary laughed.

Heart thundering in her chest, Dagger shook her head, "Never!"

"Don't you want to know I intend to use you?" Scowling at him, she didn't answer, not that Gary needed response to keep gloating while he killed time waiting for Kaiyou to show up. "You see, you're a Princess. Sure, you're not a Princess of Heart, but most of those broads are old and married already and ugh. Being around them makes me sick." He flicked his fingers, sticking out his tongue as if he'd gotten ill just thinking about it. "So instead, I intend to marry _you_! After all, I _am_ royalty now!"

Lunging forward, Dagger braced herself on her hands, "If you are, you're the King of Slimeballs!"

Terribly amused, the Heartless burst into a cackle, "Slimeballs! How _cute_!" he crooned, "No- I'm a Prince. A Prince of Darkness! More powerful than just any old Heartless or Nobody because I've got _all_ my bits and pieces! I'm a being, like the Princesses of Heart, without a speck of light in me. It's so grand finally knowing what I really am!"

Spinning around and setting his coat to twirling, Gary stopped, hands raised in his dark glee as he laughed. "It's such a wonderful feeling that I think I'll spread the joy. I think I _will_ tell Kaiyou what he _really_ is and crush all his stupid little hopes of ever being _normal_. That would be _grand_, don't you think, my beloved?" looking back over his shoulder at her, Gary smirked at her expression- at the disgust and terror that warred on her pale features.

"You monster! I won't let you hurt Kaiyou!" Dagger shouted, though how she intended to do that, she didn't know.

"Won't _let_ me?" Gary sneered, "How do you intend to stop me? I know things about him that will simply tear him apart!"

Glowering, Dagger thumped her heels into the dirt, "Like what?" she demanded, calling him on his bluff.

For a moment, Gary paused, straightening to his full height, arms folded, hands cupping his elbows. His beautiful eyes gazed down his nose at her in a superior fashion. "I know... that Kaiyou isn't real," he told her. "He _thinks_ he is, but he isn't. He's just a vessel, carrying something important- something we want. His form is... an amusement to us all. Back when I first met him, I didn't realize, but now... now I can see why they chose that particular form for Kaiyou- which isn't really his name either..."

"This has to do with Sora, doesn't it?" Dagger asked and Gary smirked without saying anything. But then, he _was_ a master of body language and getting his point across without saying a word. Dagger was pale again, though what reasons or connections she'd made in her mind, she didn't speak.

Gary's lips parted slowly, smirk morphing into a sadistic grin.

* * *

"_AROS_!" Laguna's shout finally caught her attention and stumbling, she nearly crashed head-first into a stack of trashcans beside a building. Managing to miss them, she collapsed to her knees as Laguna limped over, hand on his side as he wheezed. "Darn, girl, you're fast," he huffed and dropped beside her as she stared at him. 

"-_what_ did you call me?" she gasped.

Leaning in, Laguna looked at her face, then snorted, "What? You think I'm that dense to have not noticed? Honestly, it was the way you shrieked at Winifred's spell book back in the cemetery. That's beside the point, though." Sucking down another lungful of air, Laguna continued, "Where are you going?"

Blushing, Kaiyou looked down at her knees, tears stinging her eyes, "I- Gary... he has Dagger. He told me to go to the cemetery- alone..." Turning back towards Laguna, Kaiyou grabbed his robes, "He'll kill her! I know he will- because he's black all the way through and hates me so much that he'll destroy anything and anyone I care about! You can't come with me, I have to face him!" Even though she knew she was probably going to her death.

_'I can't even hit him, what makes me think I can get Dagger back? I'm gonna die.'_

Laguna frowned, staring at her face for a long moment before lifting his hands and plucking hers from his clothes. Pulling gently, he had her tucked against his chest before she even realized what was happening. "Did Max yell at you again?" he asked, touching that sore nerve that sent Kaiyou into a fit of coughing sobs. "Some people just don't react well to stress," he explained gently, rubbing her back, "Max is one of them. Whatever he said- ignore it. It's not your fault. _I_ knew we should have cut the witches into pieces instead of burning them, but I went along with Allison's plan because this is their world, not mine. Beheading is how you kill sorceresses in _my_ world, and that's the only way to, maybe it's burning here... I guess not."

Turning her head, Kaiyou used his shoulder to dry her eyes, unaccountably comforted by Laguna's words, "B-but what about... Dagger?"

"That's not your fault either. You can't take responsibility for Gary's actions. And you shouldn't feel guilty about being friends with her. All we can do is plan an attack." Laguna's arms tightened around her, "How's this: we'll go together, but you walk in alone while I hide and try to get Dagger free. Once I've got her, I'll start throwing spells at Gary."

"And hit me," Kaiyou pointed out, then sighed, "Try not to hit me directly at least. Glancing blows just reflect off, but direct hits hurt."

Nodding, Laguna put his cheek against her hair, despite the fact that they should have been moving.

_'I don't want to forget this... Umi, no matter what else happens between me and Laguna... let me at least remember this feeling?'_ Kaiyou requested of her other voice.

Softly, Umi sighed, _'I'd intended to anyway. You have so few good memories.'_

Gently pushing against Laguna's shoulder, Kaiyou sat up and looked at him, "I'm okay now," she said and added a smile to prove it, then hesitated, "...thank you," she finished in a small voice before getting to her feet and offering her hands down to help Laguna up.

In return, Laguna smiled at her, "No problem," he brushed her hair back from her face and used a thumb to wipe a stray tear away, "It's not good to keep everything inside and never look to anyone else for support when you need it."

"And lose my hard-won independence?" Kaiyou asked, looking away.

"That's not independence," Laguna replied, "That's isolation." Leaning forward, he tipped her chin up and kissed her forehead to smooth the edges of his words. "You were never meant to be alone. So open yourself. I promise I won't hurt you."

Fingers curling into her palms, Kaiyou's heart hammered in her chest.

_'Let go... take hold,'_ she thought, emotions warring with each other in her chest, anticipation, fear, excitement- _'I want this... I've wanted this since forever. Can I really have this? Is it really mine to take?'_

_"What can you give away but still keep?"_

_"Your heart."_

_'He's offering me his heart...'_ she realized,_ 'or if not the whole thing, a sizeable chunk of it.'_

Lifting her eyes to his face, Kaiyou relaxed her fingers and lifted her hands as she stepped forward, putting her arms around him briefly. Stepping back again, she shook her head, "Let's go! Before Gary does something to her."

Laguna was smiling stupidly, as if his head had exploded in bliss, and blankly, he nodded agreement. She couldn't help but laugh at him, trying not to start crying again. Instead, she turned away and started off, Laguna lurching into motion behind her.

* * *

Even the terror of having to face-off against Gary again couldn't dampen Kaiyou's elation as she stepped up to the cemetery gates and pushed one side open enough for her to slip through. Laguna was hiding against the wall, out of sight, but not hearing. He'd agreed to wait at least a few minutes for Kaiyou to get Gary's full attention before making his move. It was reassuring that he had some brains in that silly exterior he put up. 

_'How could he be a president if he didn't have the sense to go along with a plan once it's made?'_ she asked herself. Thankfully Umi was quite used to Kaiyou's random comments and knew when she was being addressed and when she wasn't, so didn't bother answering a rhetorical question.

Taking her courage in hand, she called her Keyblade and stepped into the cemetery as she shouted, "Gary!"

There was no answer and she walked in further, frowning at the signs of another battle with darkness- blackened twisted trees bent in odd curves where they'd been straight the last time she'd seen them. "Gary! Come out, you creep!"

"Creep?" his disembodied voice laughed, "Is that the best you can come up with?" The strange echo of his tones cleared as a dark portal opened a short ways in front of her, Dagger now awake stood pinned against his side, a hand on her throat. "You're so pathetic," Gary stated, eyeing her, "I can't understand why the Keyblade would choose you, except maybe out of pity for Sora."

Jerking her chin up, Kaiyou snapped, "It saw that I've got my own strength," she told him, "After all- you haven't destroyed me yet, despite how hard you've tried." Firmly raising her Keyblade, Kaiyou took a fighting stance. "Come on! _Play_ with me, Gary!"

"Now you're talking!" Gary laughed, slinging Dagger aside casually and leapt forward, Obsidian Heart flashing into existence in his palm. With a hard thump, Dagger landed against a tombstone and climbed behind it and the flash of shell and protect spells blinked around Kaiyou seconds before Gary's first attack sent Kaiyou flying.

Hitting the ground hard, Kaiyou rolled away as Gary stabbed the tip of his sword into the ground and paused as she staggered to her feet, desperately clutching her Keyblade with both hands out in front of her. "Oh come _on_!" Gary sneered, "You put up more of a fight bare handed! Fine, let's put our weapons away and do this with fists."

Obsidian Heart disappeared and he stood with his hands open, palms up, looking quite harmless as she stared at him. Ha. Harmless. If there was an encyclopedia entry on Gary, the word 'Harmless' wouldn't even be in the same book as him. In fact, the word 'Harmless' would have probably fled from the entire Britannica series and hidden out in the Japanese volume and changed a few of it's syllables as a disguise.

She didn't budge, trusting Gary about as far as she could throw him, and that was only trusting that he would _not_ keep his word. "Alright," Gary said, "Let's make this interesting then- I'll go barehanded, you keep that toy of yours. See? I can compromise."

"If only you'd learned all the other lessons taught in first grade while you were at it," Kaiyou retorted and blocked as Gary launched forward, partially gliding in the air, his cloak and hair floating behind him.

His fist, enveloped by darkness clashed against her blade as Kaiyou backed away and slashed.

Snorting, Gary stated, "What in the world was _that_?" he asked, "You can't attack me while backing up!"

Keeping her lips clamped on anything that would reveal Laguna's presence, Kaiyou kept her eyes locked on Gary, watching for his next attack. Even though she was alert for it, she still missed seeing when he'd moved, for suddenly, he was beside her, lashing out with a kick she belatedly swung her Keyblade down to block. His foot landed firmly in her side, sending her crashing against a tree, and before she had the chance to even gasp, Gary was there again, a hand on her throat, squeezing. "Pitiful," he sneered into her face as she clawed at his wrist, "You're hardly a Challenge at all." Placing his other hand on her chest, Gary's hand turned partially to black smoke and sank into her flesh, sending waves of cold chill through her body.

"Give it to me!" he demanded, "Give me this pitiful thing you call a Heart!"

Kaiyou gasped and struggled as she felt him touch something that wasn't his to take, his fingers caressing the jagged edges and rough spots on what was left of her heart- making her incredibly aware of exactly what shape it was. She flailed trying to kick him off her as he violated the very core of her being.

"_THUNDER!_"

The spell wasn't a direct hit, but close enough that it reflected off Kaiyou's clothes and blinded both of them. The weight against her disappeared, and Kaiyou wrapped her arms around her chest as small warm arms encircled her. Blinded and trembling, Kaiyou could only crouch there, hunched over her knees, feeling as if she'd been raped a thousand times.

Dagger was pulling at her, "Aros- Kaiyou- the tree's on fire, we have to move!" But Kaiyou couldn't move and Dagger was forced to pull her up and haul her away all on her own, dropping Kaiyou behind a tombstone where she curled up again in a ball. The word 'Terror' was too mild to describe the cold chills that wafted through Kaiyou, sinking into her very bones and making all the old breaks and cracks ache with remembered pain.

"Laguna! Watch out!" Dagger called from where she sat beside Kaiyou.

_'Ki'you,'_ Umi whispered, _'I'm sorry- I- I didn't expect him to do that. Next time- I'll protect you, I won't let him get that close again!'_

Still, Kaiyou was in no state to understand what was being said to her, or even what was going on around her.

* * *

_AN: Webpage update! AngelFlare's fanart, a Keyblades section with drawings of the original Keyblade designs used in this fic, and a section of pictures of awesome moments that happened in the fic. __AngelFlare ROCKS+SQUEEEE+ I bounced off the walls all day. Such pretty art! I like Angel's version of Kaiyou's pants better than what I drew. Lol._

_Next Chapter: When all is said and done... Billy had the best lines in the WHOLE movie._


	35. Hang Onto Your Head

_Chapter 35_

_(Hang Onto Your Head)_

In a lurch, the truck pulled to a stop and Sora dived out, caught Dani as she leapt at him, and bodily carried her through the partially opened cemetery gates, Allison, Binx, and Max following behind. He felt cold inside- an echo from elsewhere, he knew, and the strength of it terrified him. As he staggered through the gates, he was nearly blasted as Laguna leapt aside, avoiding a ball of crackling darkness thrown by Gary. The Heartless landed from a leapand launched himself after the mage, knocking aside Laguna's wild spells with Obsidian Heart.

Dropping Dani to her feet, Sora charged forward, calling his Keyblade without a second thought. He was startled when the second Keyblade, Diamond Heart, again appeared in his left hand, the light from the headlights sparkling off the diamond shaped prongs on the end of the blade and on the rapier-like knuckle guard arching over the back of his hand. The blade was smaller than his Ultimate blade, lighter, but fast as lightning in a hand more used to hefting broadsword-like Keyblades.

With a raging shout, Sora slashed at Gary's back as the Heartless missed another attempt to hit Laguna, his blades connecting with solid flesh and Gary staggered forward, then etherealized briefly to reappear several feet away. "Oh! So you _did_ survive! I was worried I wouldn't get a second round with you."

"Sicko!" Sora shouted and leapt forward again as Gary rose straight upwards into the air. Using a tombstone as a launch-pad, Sora brought his blades around in a whirling strike at Gary, which the Heartless countered with a block.

"Blizzard!" Laguna shouted.

"Thunder!" Dani shrieked and the bolt hit Gary dead on where Laguna's spell sailed past both Sora and Gary.

Shocked, both figuratively and literally, Gary paused in his defense. Swinging Diamond Heart around, Sora stabbed the blade up through Gary's stomach and out the back. Curling his feet up, the brunet planted them on his enemy and pushed, sending an arc of blood flying as he back flipped away and landed, bending a knee to break his momentum upon hitting the ground.

Gary snarled, "I'll get you back for this, Sora!" the Heartless shouted, clutching his wound, "I'll find what you care about the most, and I'll destroy it!"

"There's no object you can destroy that'll hurt me," Sora shouted back.

Coldly, Gary laughed, "There're other more vile things I can do than break your toys, Sora, and since you've got no imagination, I'll give you a few things to think on: Kairi, Riku, Aros... Kaiyou!"

Furious, Sora shouted as he launched himself at Gary, swinging his Keyblades, but Gary disappeared into a portal of Darkness before Sora was even halfway there. Landing, Sora skidded to a stop, "That- that... creep!" Sora snapped, "He doesn't know who he's messing with!"

Slashing his blades in fury, Sora finally released them and turned, looking around- finally spotting Dagger with her arms wrapped around Kaiyou. Lurching into motion, Sora staggered over and knelt, "Aros," he said softly, falling to his knees.

Behind them, Allison cried out, "Max!"

Laguna looked away from Sora, Dagger, and Kaiyou, turning to look up over the gates of the cemetery where the three witches hovered on their varied cleaning equipment. On the ground before them stood Max, Dani, and Allison, and the zombie, hand around Max's throat while the boy clutched a pocket knife that was rather useless against a creature that could have its head knocked off and only be mildly inconvenienced by the loss. "Billy! Listen to me- Kill him if you must, but I want that child!" She aimed a finger at Dani.

Tearing the pocket knife from the boy's grip, Billy resolutely cut the threads holding his mouth shut and coughed a moth. "Wench!" he shouted on his first breath.

Winnie floated back as if stung by a physical blow.

"Trollop! You Bucktoothed mop-riding firefly from _hell_!" Billy shouted. Throwing her hands up, Winnie fended off his insults with her arms and a devastated cry. Turning, Billy grinned, "I've wanted to say that for centuries!"

Cringing back from the zombie, Max wheezed, "Say what you want, but don't breathe on me...?"

Furious now, Winnie surged forward, "Billy- I killed you once and I shall do it again you maggoty malfeasance!"

"Go to hell!" he snapped back.

Laughing, Winnie cheerfully told him, "Already been there, I found it quite nice! Perhaps you'd like to see it!" Flinging her hands into the air, she looked to her sisters, "Ready!" Taking a breath, she closed her eyes and sang a pure note that transcended reality and echoed back across it like a rock skipping off water. Beside her, Mary and Sarah took low alto and high soprano parts respectively, as one, they began chanting in some hellish language that had the mortals on the ground writing in pain as they covered their ears, trying to block out the sound. A crack of thunder erupted from the sky and the stars winked out of the slightly gray sky as darkness pulsed. A line of red shot through the center, and widened as the gates of Darkness opened onto hellfire red.

All Laguna could do was clutch his head as he was driven to his knees by the pressure changes. The air grew hot and sulfuric as the Gates of Hell finally banged open fully. On the stone wall surrounding the cemetery, two dark portals opened, from which stepped two Organization XIII members.

"Thank you, ladies," Xigbar called, Zexion standing beside him. With that, they stepped back into another portal of Darkness. Above, the image disappeared as Winnie, Mary, and Sarah dropped their hands at the last syllable of their spell.

Smirking, Winnie shouted, "Don't even bother using those silly keys of yours to close the Gates. You can't from here!" Levering a finger at the zombie, she added, "Billy- hang onto your _head_!" and launched upwards, disappearing from sight, Mary and Sarah followed shortly afterwards.

Dani stepped back away from the group, looking around slowly before spotting Binx, sitting on a gravestone a short distance away. Heading over to him, she held out her hand and scratched the top of his head. Billy stepped away from Max finally and apologized, handing the knife back.

Inwardly cursing, Sora turned to look back towards Aros. The copy hadn't moved an inch, ocean blue eyes staring blankly ahead. Desperate for some reaction, Sora reached out, touching his copy's hand gently, "Aros- Aros, are you alright?" he asked urgently, looking at Aros's wide eyes and pale face.

"He...touched...my Heart," she whispered, shivering, "All- over it! Darkness- cold... darkness!"

Clasping Aros's hand between his, Sora chafed it to warm her fingers, "He didn't get it though, right?" he offered, "You're alright now. He can't get you unless you give into the Darkness. You have to be strong!"

"Shora!" Donald called as the duck stumbled into the cemetery, looking around desperately for the boy.

Stumbling up behind Donald, Goofy nearly knocked the duck over, since Donald had stopped so suddenly. The first to spot Sora, Goofy called, "Sora! Gawrsh, are you okay? What was that red light in the sky?" Together, the two headed towards Sora and Kaiyou, Khimari entering the cemetery quietly behind, walking between Max and Billy- getting stared at by both.

"Help!" Dani shrieked, drawing everyone's attention and even Kaiyou lifted her head, blinking finally. Sora turned, looking up as Winifred lifted into the sky, Dani perched on her broom.

Staggering to his feet, Sora frowned even as Max shouted, "Dani!"

Savagely sneering, Winnie pulled the cork from her bottle with her teeth and spat it aside, "This'll teach you to call people _ugly_!" the witch shouted, "Open your mouth!" Struggling with the little girl, Winnie tried to force the bottle into Dani's mouth, "Open it I say!"

Quickly skittering up a branch, Binx agilely launched himself at Winifred, latching onto her with his claws. Startled, the vial flew from her hand, and diving to catch it, Max landed hard on his stomach, then rolled to his feet. Finally catching hold of Binx, the witch savagely slung the cat across the clearing where he landed with a sick crunch against the tombstone Kaiyou was still crouched behind.

"Put her down or I'll smash it!" Max shouted, raising the bottle up.

Furious, Winifred put her nails against Dani's throat and threatened back, "Smash it and she dies!"

"Max!" Dani sobbed- her eyes widening as Max looked from Dani to the vial, then knocked back the potion in one gulp. "Max- no!"

Shaking his head at the hideous taste, Max gasped for air and threw the bottle aside, "Now you've got no choice."

Cackling, Winifred lowered, tossing Dani aside casually, thankfully Laguna was there to catch her, though the impact knocked him to the ground. "What a fool! Giving up thy life for thy sister's!"

Slowly climbing to her feet, Kaiyou peered around the tombstone at Binx.

He wasn't moving...

"Cat...killer..." Kaiyou hissed in a low growl that caught Sora's attention and he looked over, heart lurching at the sight of Binx lying sprawled on the ground, back cocked at an odd angle.

"Let's get her," Sora suggested, anger bubbling up within him- out of sympathy for Aros. Wouldn't anyone ever stop pressing the poor kid's buttons? At least this time it seemed like Aros was willing to fight and avenge Binx's death, which was a step, though Sora didn't quite know in what direction this step was being taken in.

Eyes flashing in fury as Kaiyou finally turned her terror into power, she exchanged a look with the taller male version of herself and nodded. Calling her Keyblade the same moment Sora pulled his, though again only his original blade answered. She leapt over the tombstone, flowing across the ground in a smooth rush that closed the distance between herself and Winifred before the witch had done more than latch her claws into the front of Max's shirt.

Eyes widening, Winifred took better hold of her victim and lifted off the ground as Kaiyou leapt upwards after her, slashing viciously. Unfortunately, she missed and fell back towards the ground. "Sarah! Mary! Attack!" the witch screamed, then ordered, "Heartless, attack!"

Sliding to a stop beneath Kaiyou, Sora turned Ultimate to the flat-side and spun to get some momentum, "Aros!" he shouted, catching her attention. Looking down at him, she seemed to understand what he was up to and landed on his blade- then launched back upwards off it as Sora completed his move, slinging her into the air much farther than she could have jumped alone.

All around the shadow-filled cemetery, dark portals popped, dropping heartless to the ground. Dani, having finally untangled herself from Laguna turned and shouted, "Thunder!" an arc of electricity cracking down from the sky and striking several Heartless as Dagger staggered to her feet, running towards the rest of the group. Behind her surged a wave of Heartless.

"Dani," Laguna called, "Could I ask _where_ you learned that?"

Sweetly, she replied, "From _you_!"

As Donald, Goofy, and Khimari joined them, Allison in the center, and soon joined by Dagger, the duck stated, "She'sh got better aim than you do!"

"Oh! When I get a gun I'll show you all! _Magnet_!"

"Thunder!" Dani cast on the glob of Heartless that formed where Laguna had cast his spell.

"Blishard!" Donald added.

Launching forward, Goofy slammed his shield into a Heartless, dissipating it in one hit then began spinning, slicing the swarm with the sharp edges of his shield. Khimari rushed out into the fray, stabbing a Heartless on the end of his spear, then spun, catching others with the shaft and slinging them towards Laguna's re-cast Magnet spell, which thankfully didn't require aim to do damage.

"Billy!" Allison gasped, watching as the zombie was attacked by a Heartless. He turned this way and that, and finally picked up another Heartless and bashed it against the one clinging to his back, knocking it off. Both the creatures disappeared, and Billy grabbed another shadow-creature and flung it at its fellows, apparently not caring about any damage his body was receiving from the monsters.

Streaking through the air, Kaiyou pulled her arms in to cut wind resistance until she reached Winifred and snapped her Keyblade around in a sharp spin, "Ha!" she shouted cracking a hard hit across the witch's broom.

"Brat!" Winnie shrieked, turning to fling lightning from her fingertips at Kaiyou, distracted from her attempting to suck Max's life out as his soul floated in a nimbus around his body.

Predictably, her spell backfired, reflecting off Kaiyou's clothes even as she began to fall again. Looking down, she spotted Sora leaping up towards her. Stretching out her hand, she grasped his on her way down and threw herself into a spin, slinging him up to Winnie's height. Swinging his blade in a vicious set of attacks, the witch was forced to release Max and defend herself. Desperately,Max grabbed onto the end of Winnie's broom, hanging by his fingertips twenty feet above a raging sea of Heartless.

Zooming in from the side as Kaiyou fell, Mary aimed lightning at Kaiyou- again, it reflected off, and midair, the girl flipped again, managing to get her feet under her just in time to land on Mary's vacuum. Shrieking, the fat woman flailed, trying to defend herself from Kaiyou and stay on her vacuum at the same time, "Sarah! Help!" the brunet witch wailed.

"I'm coming!" Sarah called and shot down from her perch higher in the sky, her hair and mop strings flying behind her. Sweeping past Kaiyou, Sarah grabbed the girl's throat, knocking her off Mary's vacuum and towards the ground once more.

Landing in a knot of Heartless, Kaiyou slashed at them viciously, raising a cloud of black smoke around her as they died, then leapt upwards again as Sora was coming down once more. This time, he grabbed her hand, "Why're you grinning?" Kaiyou had to ask in that moment.

Sora didn't answer, just threw her towards Winifred who was leaned down over her broom, sucking at Max's soul as he kicked and flailed on the end of her broom. This time, Kaiyou managed to break through Winifred's defense and her slash connected with the witch's side, cutting through cloth and drawing blood.

"Hyah!" Sora shouted, flying up on Winnie's other side boosted up by Khimari,immediately hacking at the witch's unprotected side. With a sickening crack, the broom sank- well, plummeted is more like, crashing through the branches of a tree. Max landed hard on the ground and rolled away as Winnie landed face first in the soft ground next to him.

From the sides, Mary and Sarah came darting in, the blonde heading for Sora, the brunet heading for Kaiyou. As one, Sora and Kaiyou reached for each other, placed their feet together sole-to-sole, and kicked off, shooting out to meet the witches.

Throwing herself into a tight spin, Kaiyou released her blade- sending it arcing end-over-end to crack solidly against Mary's vacuum. Shrieking, the witch flailed as the blow sent her sailing off higher into the air- just as the sun slipped over the horizon. "I- uh-" Mary looked around in panic.

At the same moment, Sora met with Sarah and slashed, cutting her mop in half and slashing her across the chest. Shrieking in pain, she tumbled downwards.

"Buh-bye Winnie! Sarah!" Mary called- and with a cracking noise, exploded into dust. Sarah, in turn, silently changed to dust on her way down, leaving a streak in the air moments after she was gone.

Prying herself from the pit she'd created, Winnie crawled purposefully across the ground, ignoring the stinging in her hands and knees as she narrowed her sight on her goal. Max, woozy and unable to stand was sprawled on the ground nearby, unaware of the Heartless closing in on them. Grasping his shirt, Winnie pulled him up, "I've got you now, you wretch!" she shouted and leaned forward as the sun came further over the horizon, light touching her scarlet hair. "Oh- oh-" she gasped and looked down, realizing belatedly that she was standing on hallowed ground and the smoke rising up around her was _not _mist. "Book!" she howled, as if that would save her, and in a sudden cracking burst, she exploded into dust, dropping Max to the ground.

Simultaneously, the Heartless turned away, pausing as if they'd heard someone call before opening personal portals of darkness, into which they disappeared.

Landing hard, Kaiyou rolled to break her momentum and staggered to her feet, panting, "I... I did it," she whispered, blinking. She still felt cold. Oddly cold despite being rather sweaty, but the realization of her success was enough to drive back the shivers of chill that were still fading from her limbs. All around them, their allies were rejoicing- Dani and Allison had gone to Max, Goofy and Donald were hugging each other, Khimari was standing firmly behind Dagger, and Laguna was staring at Sora and Kaiyou, grinning like the cat who got into the cream.

Sora landed beside her with a grunt and slowly straightened- then staggered with a wince, stabbing his blade into the ground for balance. Flushing, Kaiyou turned to look at him, finally noticing his blood-covered state. Her heart pounded as he lifted his eyes and met her gaze as the world seemed to stand still, sound fading from her hearing, covered by the labored beating of her heart.

A flicker of light caught their attention, and Sora partially turned as he heard Dani sobbing, "Binx- Binx wake up! You _can't_ die, Binx!"

"Dani-" Allison said gently, "Dani, he's gone. He's finally at rest." Gently, Max pulled his sister up off the dead cat and cradled her as she sobbed against his shoulder.

The light that had caught Sora's eye formed into a shape, partially solidified, and the boy in a loose linen shirt and leggings skipped across the grass towards the three, _"Dani-"_ Binx's voice called, _"Dani, don't cry." _Pulling her face off her brother's shoulder, she stared at him, tears still trailing down her cheeks as Max released her and she reached out to touch Binx's hands as he held them out. _"I'm free, now. Finally I can go be with my family!"_

Sniffling and shaking her head, Dani pouted, "But..."

_"Shh,"_ Binx whispered, placing a kiss on her forehead, _"If you need me, I'll be there. So smile for me?" _Briefly, the girl closed her eyes, then opened them again, turning a smile on Binx. _"That's better,"_ the humanoid ghost murmured, _"The new protector of this world can't go around crying all the time. So smile and know that I'll be watching over you."_

Nodding, Dani wiped her face with her sleeve, "Okay!" she said, pushing cheerfulness into her voice, forcing herself to believe it.

_"Thackery!"_ a new voice called, _"Thackery! Where art thou?"_

Looking back over his shoulder, the ghost grinned, _"It's Emily!"_

Releasing his hands, Dani smiled again, "Go! I'll be fine! Thank you, Binx!"

Again, he kissed her forehead and turned away, walking past Sora- then paused long enough to say softly, _"Your sister lives." _Shocked, all Sora could do was stand there as Binx continued past. Kaiyou lowered her eyes as the ghost of Binx walked past her and lightly patted her shoulder, _"Thank you for your help,"_ he said to her, and finally moved on.

_"Thackery! Where hast thou been?"_ The little girl standing at the cemetery gates was nearly transparent in the light of the growing dawn, but what he could see of her was dressed in a long linen shift and bonnet, her long straight brown hair falling free down to her hips.

Laughing as he spoke Binx replied, _"Sorry. I had to wait three hundred years for a virgin to light a candle."_ Together, the two walked towards the gates of the cemetery and disappeared.

Licking his lips hesitantly, Sora turned back towards her, but before he could speak, another flash of light caught her attention, and glad for the distraction, she turned to look at the cemetery gates once more. Staring at her for a moment longer, Sora finally turned as well when she asked "What's that?" and pointed at the giant keyhole that had appeared.

"This world's Heart," Sora explained, then looked towards her again, "Lock it, and you prevent this world from being swallowed into the Darkness."

"I- I didn't do that for Toontown," she said softly. "I didn't know..."

Shaking his head, Sora replied, "I did. Toontown is fine. Go on, Lock it," he said encouragingly with a smile.

Slowly, Kaiyou turned towards the keyhole and lifted her blade- light shot from the end, and Kaiyou watched in fascination as light exploded from the keyhole and showered the area with sparkles like confetti.

"Good job!" Sora said cheerfully.

_'Good job?'_ she repeated, tasting the words, _'Good job...? Was it?' _"Really?" she asked softly, not realizing she'd spoken aloud.

He nodded taking a cautious step towards her, "Really," Sora agreed, "You did a good job, Aros."

And reality hit her once again as she stared at him.

_'Oh my god. I'm standing here next to Sora... Sora... hates me!'_ The cold shivers from before were starting to come back and she backed away a step, shaking her head, "I- I'm not what you think I am," she looked down and away, trying to avoid Sora's gaze.

Pushing himself upright, Sora took a step to follow her, "Hey, you promised," he pointed out, "You promised we'd-"

"I _know_!" she interrupted, Keyblade disappearing from her grip as she sent it away and backed up another step, "I- but _I_ don't even know me!" Lifting her eyes, she met Sora's gaze finally, "I- I want..." she licked her lips, "I want to ...know myself first." Trembling, she wrapped her arms around herself, gripping her own shoulders, the feeling of terror and being violated returning once again.

Stopping where he was, Sora paused, staring into her eyes. He wanted to stay with Aros- it seemed important, it was like having back something he'd lost many years ago and grown used to the absence. And then there was The Girl, who was looking at them with a slight smile on her lips, the light from the rising sun lighting her warm brown eyes with gold. Taking a breath, Sora nodded, "When you're ready, then," he agreed finally, "I'll be here. And if you need me, all you have to do is ask and I'll help. Promise."

The smile he gave her then stabbed her to the heart with warmth, dissipating the chills as if he'd burned off whatever poison Gary had left on her heart. Kaiyou could only stare at him, reading the honesty written across his features as she wondered, _'What you can give away yet still keep...? Why is everyone offering their hearts to me?'_

"Okay," she whispered at last, lowering her hands back to her sides. "Dagger, let's go!" She called and turned away, jogging over to the princess and Laguna. Latching a hand onto each of them, she shouted, "Teleport us!"

In a flash of light, they were gone, and Sora sighed, wondering if he was going to regret that. After all, he'd not gotten to talk to The Girl... Dagger. Her name was Dagger!

"_Whahaaagh!_" Donald shouted, "Shora! Why'd you let him get away?"

Smiling, the Keyblade Master replied, "Because I had to. He needs some time to figure out who he is. We'll catch up to each other again..." looking up at the rising sun, his smile broadened, "Soon, I think." Turning back towards Donald, Goofy, and Khimari, he concluded, "For now, we've got to head back to Disney Castle and report. Hopefully Roxas got some information."

Goofy nodded agreement to that, but Donald didn't look happy. "Maybe you can get some new clothes while we're there," the dog-man suggested, "Yours are ..."

Looking down at himself, Sora frowned slightly, knowing that not all the blood was his, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember what had happened, other than that Gary had killed someone. It was something he needed to think about when he had his whole heart – when he had Roxas to ask advice from.

"So - Allison," Max was in the process of saying as he pulled something out of his pocket, "Will you keep my phone number this time?" holding up a piece of paper, he grinned at her.

Giving him a look, Allison snorted, "I dunno, maybe I want to date Gary?" she said as a joke and took the paper - which suddenly shot a line of light upwards into the air, forming the shape of a keyhole. "What?"

"The path of light to the next world," Sora stated, shaking himself into action. Lifting his blade with a swish of cut air, Sora aimed his Key at the lock. In another flash of light, the lock clicked open. "At least I'll know where they've gone from here." Shaking his head, he looked towards his companions, "Alright, troops, let's get out of here!" Nodding, Khimari paced over, remarkably quiet for a creature his size. Placing a hand on Sora's head, he waited while Goofy and Donald dashed over, each taking hold of his hands. "Teleport us!" the brunet called.

* * *

_AN: The End!_

_Lol. No, just kidding. They've still got to defeat Gary after all, and Sora's got to do the math of Aros + Kaiyou equals One and Roxas hasn't gotten his new duds yet! So that's at least 4 more chapters!_

_Wow. The Salem world ended right at 200 pages. Aren't I spaztastic? Anyway! Please review!_

_Next Chapter: Halls of Passage, and passing in the halls. But sadly, no Passing Out in the halls, despite Reno's best efforts. As a Heartless, he's found he just can't seem to get quite as drunk as he used to, and Maleficent's got this sucky policy about no booze on the clock, but when is a Heartless OR a Turk really off duty? AND Axel and Roxas have a heart-to-heart... We'll just ignore the fact that they've only got half a heart between them. They get an 'A' for effort!_


	36. Halls of Passage

_Chapter 36_

_(Halls of Passage)_

Silence echoed through the halls... Such large halls for so small a population. One could go for days without meeting a single person. If only he'd not been called back by Maleficent before he could put the chase on those two rats in the walls... _Spies_...

The silence rang in his ears with a sharp clacking noise- No, not silence- the sound of booted feet in an even tread. Reno smirked, recognizing that particular clack of heel, the length of stride, the creak of leather. How many years had that particular stride sent chills down the spines of raw recruits and grizzled soldiers alike? How many of the company's executives woke up in the middle of the night, trembling in nameless fears because of that man?

Leaning against the wall, the redhead watched with half-lidded jade eyes as the silver haired warrior stepped around the corner, walking purposefully down the hall. This wasn't a hall used often, even though it was on the outside of the Castle that Never Was and afforded a lovely view of the growing Kingdom Hearts, there were better vantage points to view it from than this- which meant that the warrior was heading off towards one of those vantage points which could only be accessed by this very hall.

Blue-green eyes met jade, and Reno smirked first. The swordsman didn't respond, but the promise in his blue-green eyes was one of death and eternal suffering. The swordsman went on, but Reno wasn't about to let the opportunity pass and opened his mouth, "Think you're something special now, don'tcha?" Not like Reno could die permanently, after all.

It seemed as if the silver haired warrior wasn't inclined to respond, for he passed Reno, turning his eyes forward once more. After a few steps- without looking back, without changing stride- the Prince of Darkness sneered, "I always knew I was destined to rule the Worlds. ...Insolent Traitor."

* * *

"Now that you've got a heart... do you hate me?"

This question broke Roxas from his idle contemplation of the flesh on the tips of his fingers and how his nails- Sora's nails- were getting a little long. It was an unexpected question, and Roxas had to think about it for a moment before he realized that he probably should answer Axel before he began to think that the answer was 'Yes'. Looking towards the redhead from where he sat in the pilot's seat, idly orbiting Disney Castle since Sora hadn't returned yet, Roxas stated, "I thought we went over this?"

Axel was staring at his knee where he had a foot propped up on the ship's control board in front of him, making his chair angle back in a way it probably wasn't meant to do for long periods of time. "I don't know," the Nobody murmured. "I can't predict what you'll think or feel now... well, I never could. You were always so strange compared to the rest of us."

Snorting, Roxas shook his head, "Probably why you liked me."

"Do I _like_ you?"

"Oh!" reaching over, Roxas bashed a fist into Axel's shoulder, then stood, "Now you're being emo! Stop that." Turning away, he headed towards the door at the back of the room and paused there, "I've not had anything to eat in a while, come have- breakfast I guess it is now- with me?"

Still rubbing his shoulder, Axel stared back at Roxas, then heaved a sigh and stood, "Alright," he muttered, following the blonde as he went through the door. "But you never answered my question."

"I didn't think there was a point to. If I hated you, you'd _know_ it, Axel. Promise!" Looking over his shoulder as they walked through the short hall with two doors on either side which led into very narrow bunk rooms, Roxas smiled once more as he continued speaking, "There really are only a few people that I hate. It's not a pleasant emotion after all." At the end of the hall, Roxas pushed the door open and stepped into the kitchen/bathroom. Apparently Chip and Dale had thought it economical to put all the plumbing in one place. At least there was a door between the kitchen part of the room and the showering area- a door that could be closed if needed. There just wasn't much in the way of elbow room when the door was closed though. "I save my hate for those who really deserve it."

Pulling out a chair, Axel turned it around and straddled it backwards, folding his arms over the back, "Heh," he laughed, "Like Xemnas?"

Roxas snorted as he continued towards the fridge and opened it, hunting for something to reheat, "Yep. And Maleficent. You do realize, Riku did a lot of rather cruel things to me- me personally while I was in Twilight Town with my memories and personality smeared like mashed potatoes- but I don't hate him for that." Looking over at his friend, he found Axel staring down at the table, drawing invisible Nobody emblems on the top with the tip of his finger.

"About that..."

"Ah," Roxas sighed, "_now_ we get to what's really bothering you." Axel's lips twitched towards a smile. Finally picking out a packet of something that looked like macaroni and cheese, Roxas tossed it into the reheat unit and headed to the small square table, placing his palms on it as he leaned forward, "DiZ is another person that I hate. I don't appreciate being treated like a puppet or a hammer, something you use and then forget exists till you need it again. I will _not_ put up with being called 'Nothing' or 'tool'- I refuse to believe that I should not exist, because how can something that shouldn't exist, exist? Nothing cannot be _something_ at the same time! And by having form, we _are_ something."

Lifting his jade eyes, Axel's smile was faint, but heartfelt, as he stared at Roxas, "So you think that applies to me too?"

Firmly, Roxas nodded. "Of course it does. You're not to blame for what happened in Twilight Town. I- actually, I kinda liked my year there. I got to be _normal_. I went to school under my own name, I had friends under my own name, I had enemies all my own. Not just inherited from Sora." Axel winced at the name. "But those memories, and my time in the Organization, are _my_ memories. Sora can't have them. I talk to him about stuff that happened, but I don't give him everything of mine." Reaching across the table, Roxas placed a hand on Axel's shoulder, looking into the redhead's eyes as the reheat unit peeped softly in the background, "You can be friends with Sora too, but never think of us as the same person. _Our_ relationship will always be different," he emphasized this by squeezing Axel's shoulder in a tight grip, "and I don't hate you, no matter what you think you've done to me."

Open expression and apparent good mood returning, Axel replied, "Alright... I... just hope that someday, I'll be able to honestly return your feelings, instead of just imitate them."

"The fact that you even bother shows that you care," Roxas pointed out with a grin as he straightened and returned to the reheat unit to pull out his ...whatever meal it was and dropped the hot packet on the table before it burned his fingers too much.

For a second, Axel thought on that, then nodded his agreement, apparently realizing that his attempts to act like he had emotions were indeed more than he had to do. "Maybe there's some inherent goodness that resides in the soul?" Since that's all he had left, that had to be where he was getting these urges from. Or maybe he just wanted to feel normal, and Roxas always treated him like a person. "I _am_ sorry for attacking you, though."

Pausing in his hunt for silverware, Roxas looked over his shoulder in confusion. "When...? Oh! Twilight Town. Yeah, well, I probably hurt you more." Returning to the table at last, Roxas flopped into a seat and held out the second fork he'd found. Axel took it after a moment, waiting for Roxas to say something more- he couldn't have meant what Axel thought he did.

Roxas, however, just smirked and got himself a forkful of mac and cheese and Axel was forced to ask, "Hurt me more how? By not remembering me? Or beating the crap out of me?"

"Both! Though I assure you, the first was _not_ my fault. DiZ and Riku decided that I needed a new personality. They couldn't really reprogram me quite the way DiZ wanted to, so they just smeared what I had into an unidentifiable mush and dropped some common tour guidebook information on Twilight Town into my head and told me I'd recently moved there with my foster parents." He snorted and sat up straight, looking at Axel who had a fork paused halfway to his mouth, cheese dripping off the bottom, "You know what it's like? To know that there's something important you _should_ be doing but trying to remember what it was is like wading through molasses? I recognized you, Axel. I just... It just wasn't _there_ in a coherent form for me to say exactly who you were. If DiZ and Riku had just _asked_ I would have willingly participated in the plan to revive Sora- that's what I left the Organization to _do_ after all! Conceited ..." Roxas shut his mouth there before he said anything nasty and instead put steaming macaroni in place of the words that hung on the tip of his tongue.

Axel, reminded that he still had a fork poised, finished taking his bite and silently laughed, shoulders shaking. Swallowing, the redhead replied, "Alright, I forgive you for not remembering me."

"Good. Now you can quit being Emo. Emo just doesn't look as good on you as it does on me."

* * *

_"Roxas,"_ Dale's voice was calling, _"Roxas!"_

Hurrying to the communications controls, Roxas hit the button and called back, "I'm here, what's wrong?"

_"Sora's ship is back,"_ Chip announced.

Breathing a sigh, Roxas nodded, "Alright, thanks. Tell him we'll meet him in the library."

_"Right-oh!"_ the chipmunks said in unison. Roxas really didn't like talking to them. Releasing the com-button, the blonde straightened and looked towards Axel.

The redhead lowed his hands from his ears, "I sure hope those two don't talk to us often," Axel muttered.

Laughing, Roxas replied, "They don't. They're ship technicians and only bother us when we've destroyed their hard work. Let's teleport down and I'll introduce you to Minnie."

Axel hesitated, then nodded, apparently coming to some internal decision, for he lifted his chin and followed Roxas to the teleport pad. A flash of light later and Roxas opened his eyes, stepping out of the corner of the room he'd just appeared in. Minnie was at Mickey's desk. "Queen Minnie," he greeted and she looked uncertain. "I'm Sora's Nobody, Roxas, this is Axel," he gestured at the redhead as Axel wandered further into the room, looking around at all the books.

Minnie nodded regally at that, "King Mickey spoke of you," she said, accepting Roxas and his existence immediately, which must have meant that Mickey had said good things about Roxas. That was a relief.

"Gee. This is more books than I've ever seen," he mused. "You read any of these?"

"A few," Minnie replied.

"Huh," Axel grunted, as if the very thought of reading a book honestly amazed him.

Roxas had to bite his lip to not laugh. Instead, he scratched the back of his head and stated, "We found King Mickey and Kairi, they're both fine for now, but we weren't able to break them out of Xemnas's dungeon."

Minnie hopped down from her seat and came around the desk, "But where's Sora?" she asked, just as a flash of light went off in the corner.

Looking over, Roxas grinned, "Right there," he pointed.

"Huh?" Sora asked, looking around, "Axel!" he exclaimed upon seeing the redhead, "You're alright!"

With a sour expression, Axel turned to face Sora and replied, "Yeah, no thanks to you. But who's holding grudges?" He offered his hand out.

"Not me," Sora replied, taking Axel's hand and gave it a firm pump, "A friend of Roxas's is a friend of mine! Kind of hard to hate his friends, after all."

"Donald! Goofy!" Minnie gasped, "Sora found you! But where is Aros?" Khimari rumbled softly and headed towards the door to stand guard.

Releasing each other's hands, Sora and Axel exchanged nods and the brunet got into his explanation, "Laguna's with him and the Girl, I'd have followed them further, but I had to come back here and report." He looked towards Roxas. "You want to go first or should I?"

Uncaringly, Roxas shrugged, "I can," he said, and at Sora's nod, Roxas folded his arms on his chest as he started, "I wasn't able to find out what exactly Xemnas and Maleficent had agreed upon to make them work together, but they're both residing in the Castle that Never Was, and I did find Kairi and Mickey. Xemnas found out about Aros- which was apparently Maleficent's plan and she didn't tell him about that, so he released Riku to help create Kingdom Hearts."

Sora breathed a relieved sigh, shoulders slumping, "Then there's a chance we'll run across Riku somewhere. That's good."

"Kairi asked me to tell you that she's fine," Roxas stated, looking directly at Sora. "Mickey also explained what was in those books. The one you have is a diary and he was working on decoding it when the Heartless attacked. He knocked the book on his desk onto the floor and under the desk to keep the Heartless from finding it and gave the diary to Pluto. Mickey said he thought the diary might be a Door, but didn't specify what kind of door."

"It's a door into Aros's past," Sora stated, "And if you meet a guy named Gary... Kill him."

Silence fell briefly as everyone absorbed the fact that Sora had actually succeeded in _growling_ something and looked incredibly peeved. Roxas cleared his throat, "Ahem... yes... Gary is Maleficent's newest Heartless General. He's got orders to kill you, but intends to take his time at it. He's also got orders to manipulate and turn someone named Kaiyou into a Heartless."

Again, silence fell as Sora's head jerked up and he went pale. In two steps, he closed the distance between himself and Roxas, grabbing Roxas's shoulders in a pinching grip, "_Kaiyou_?" he demanded, "You're _sure_ that was the name they used?"

Worried and unnerved by the excited and terrified look on Sora's face, Roxas tried to lean back. "Y... yeah? Maleficent was standing right next to where I was hiding when she said it."

"Kaiyou..." Sora whispered, "Kaiyou is alive!" This was said with such joy that the sudden shift of his mood directly afterwards was shocking. Sora went pale with horror as he said, "And Gary's after her!" eyes wide with horror at the thought- whatever thought had occurred to him.

Lifting a hand, Roxas balled a fist and thumped Sora in the stomach hard enough to get his Other's attention, "Come back to reality, Sora, and _explain_?"

Coughing, Sora finally released Roxas to clutch his own stomach and straightened with some difficulty, "Didn't have to hit me..." he whined and shook his head at Roxas's deadpan expression. Looking around the room, Sora met expectant looks on the faces of his other friends, and taking a breath, he hesitated, then smiled, "Anyway!" he said cheerfully, "We chased Aros to a place called Toontown, closed the World Heart there while Aros defeated the Heartless lord on that World and opened the path of Light to the next world. We followed him to a place called Salem, almost thought we'd missed him till after he'd already defeated the Heartless Lord- Ladies, actually, of that world. I met Xigbar and Zexion- and Gary."

Taking a breath, Sora got serious finally and stated, "Maleficent and Xemnas are collecting the Princes of Darkness- the opposite number of the Princesses of Heart. I believe most of them are in Hell, which Xigbar convinced the witches of Salem to open the Gates for. Aros and I killed the witches shortly after that then Aros closed the World Heart. I would have closed the Gates, but there was nothing there to close, their spell just made a reflection of the opening in Salem, so I don't know where the gates really are. Anyway- then Aros took Laguna and the Girl, Dagger, and went back to their ship."

"So Aros has gone on to the next world?" Roxas finished for Sora, who nodded.

"But Sora, who's Kaiyou?" Goofy asked, finally interrupting the reporting session to ask the burning question on everyone's mind.

"And who ish Arosh?" Donald added, stomping a foot, "You never told ush what happened in the book!"

"The book?" Roxas asked, looking around.

Looking towards Roxas again, Sora changed the topic and asked, "What was the other book- the one Aros has? Did Mickey say?"

Frowning, Roxas tapped his foot, "You're avoiding the topic," he pointed out, "But the second book is important. It's a book Ansem the Wise wrote that explores the possibility of using hearts as a power source. The book diagrams a gun that can suck hearts out of people."

Gasps went around the room and Sora rocked forward a step, clenching his fists, "We _can't_ let Maleficent or Xemnas get a hold of that book!"

Roxas nodded simple agreement to that. "Now, back to the subject of Kaiyou and Aros," he said ruthlessly, "Why don't _I_ know about Kaiyou if she's so important to you."

Sora stepped back, avoiding everyone's eyes, "...I- I haven't thought about her in a long time. I ...thought she was dead. That's what Mom said when I asked." Flexing his fingers, Sora shook his head as he walked past Roxas to the other side of the room, needing a little space and a moment to compose his expression. "But she's alive."

"But Sora!" Goofy objected, "Who _is_ she?"

Looking over his shoulder, Sora took a breath before he turned to face them fully, "I- I don't know who Kaiyou is... For some reason, I can't remember, though I know I really miss her. But from everything Gary's said so far, I think _he_ knows who she is." Looking at his friends, Sora continued, "We have to save her. I think she's with Aros, but I can't let on how important she is to me. Gary's knowing about her is scary enough. Xemnas and Maleficent knowing about her would spell certain death for her."

Surprisingly, Axel nodded, "Yeah," he agreed, "those two will use anything against you. Xemnas especially wants to rip you apart. Dying isn't fun, you know."

Glad for the change of subject, Sora replied, "Yeah, I know." He rubbed his side wincing at the memory of being stabbed by Gary's sword. There was a massive hole in his shirt there, and he was still coated with blood, "uh, how _are_ you back?" the brunet asked, finally remembering that no one had specifically said anything about it.

"All things when left to their own devices return to their natural states. Hearts turn into Heartless when released from Kingdom Hearts, and Souls return to Nobodies when there is nowhere for them to go," Axel explained, "So in short, we're immortal." Absently, he spread his hands as gasps went around the room. "No need to worry about me though. I'm on his side," he pointed at Roxas, "Whichever side he chooses. I don't care, so I'll leave the moral issues up to him. He's better equipped for it, after all."

Roxas snorted, "Gee, thanks. Just what I always wanted- ultimate responsibility for whatever whacked up things _you_ do," he stuck out his tongue at Axel. The redhead just smirked.

Sora sighed, "Though I'd like to head out now and chase Aros and Kaiyou, I need food, and sleep. I've been fighting nonstop for the past twenty-four hours."

Eyeing him, Roxas sighed and shook his head, heading over to Sora where he lowered his voice, "Then let's combine and see if we can contact Kaiyou before you pass out."

"Somewhere quiet," Sora agreed in a soft whisper, then looked beyond Roxas's shoulder to his friends and put on a smile.

In a flash and sparkle, Roxas disappeared, making all but Axel jump in shock, "Gawrsh! Where'd he go?" Goofy asked, looking around as if he might find Roxas hiding behind the coat rack or maybe under the desk.

Lightly laughing, Sora shook his head, "He had to have half my heart to have a physical presence. We just combined again, that's all. He's still here." He looked directly at Axel and found the redhead just standing there, arms folded and not looking at Sora.

"Axel," Roxas said, "You don't have to stay _here_... but please stick around?"

Blinking, the X-Organization member looked over and took a moment before he nodded. "I'll be on the ship," he stated and turned, stepping into a portal of Darkness he'd opened directly behind him. When it closed, Sora sighed.

"I think I unnerve him," Sora observed absently.

"A little," Roxas agreed.

Goofy, picking his lower lip admitted, "Gee, you're a little unnerving to us too when ya talk to yourself like that."

Both of Sora's halves burst out laughing. "Sorry! I'll try to keep it internal." _'Only Kairi and Riku really understand what it's like,'_ Sora sighed to Roxas.

_'To never be completely alone,'_ his Nobody agreed, _'It's nice sometimes. But other times... well, I like being able to do things separate from you.'_

_'You want to split up more often?'_ Sora asked, finally beginning to understand Roxas's feelings on the matter. _'...Alright. We can tell people you're my cousin or something- visiting for the summer.'_

Pleased with the compromise, Roxas agreed, settling more comfortably into Sora's body as the brunet turned his attention outward, looking towards Minnie, "Got anywhere we can sleep for a while?"

Minnie nodded immediately, "Of course, Sora." Turning towards the door, she led the way out into the hall. Donald, Goofy, and Khimari had their own places to sleep, which left Sora the only one without a room.

_'Sora... what is that on your arm?'_

_'A gift from Kaiyou.'

* * *

_

_AN: Entry from Webster's online dictionary..._

**Harmless  
**Pronunciation: 'härm-l&s  
Function: adjective  
1. Free from harm, liability, or loss.  
2. Lacking capacity or intent to injure.  
3. NOT GARY.

_Next Chapter: 'Her face... why can't I remember her face?' he asked as snow fell from the whitewashed sky, blurring the already buried shapes of the headstones in a graveyard that shouldn't be._


	37. Memories in the Heart

_Chapter 37_

_(Memories in the Heart)_

Scrubbing her eyes, Kaiyou stepped forward, heading for the pilot's seat of the Gummi Ship she'd stolen from Donald and Goofy. It was strange, but she was starting to suspect that they really didn't care that she'd taken it. What an odd situation- the first time she was actually guilty of theft and they didn't care.

"So where're we going next?" Dagger asked.

Turning partially, Kaiyou took a breath to reply but her words were cut off. "To bed," Laguna stated, stepping forward firmly. Kaiyou yelped as she suddenly found herself hoisted up over Laguna's shoulder. Turning, the mage headed towards the door.

Flailing and pounding his back, Kaiyou shouted, "Put me down!"

Laguna ignored her and stepped through the door.

Apparently, there was a short hall beyond, with a pair of doors on either side of the hall and one at each end. Turning left, Laguna pushed open the first door there and stepped in. Shrieking as he dropped her onto a narrow bed, Kaiyou lifted her feet to kick him- but he took that opportunity to grab her and untie her shoes, dropping them to the floor. Pushing her back, he grabbed her belt and unbuckled it.

Blushing furiously, Kaiyou struggled with him- was he going to- to-?

Yanking her belt and side-packs from her grasp, Laguna smiled, "I'm confiscating these," he informed her holding up her packs, then, as she sat up to launch herself at him, Laguna put his hand on her head, pushing her bangs back from her forehead- and placed a kiss there.

"Good night, Aros," he told her with a smile that froze her in place, staring at him. Heading back out the door of the narrow little room, he switched off the light and slid the door shut behind him.

Trembling, Kaiyou stared blankly at the opposite wall.

_"Good night,"_ he'd said... He'd kissed her.

Tears broke free of her hold as she staggered to her feet, heading towards the door where she slid it open slightly, then stopped as she heard Dagger's voice.

"What did you do to him?"

Laguna laughed softly, "Put him to bed. He hardly slept when everyone else took that break."

"Yeah... I noticed that..." Dagger sighed softly. "He doesn't take care of himself at all."

Softly, Laguna hummed, "Yeah, probably because he doesn't see any reason to. Why should he care about himself when no one else does?"

Dagger gasped, "But- but doesn't he realize that _we_ care?"

"I don't think so," Laguna said softly, "I have a feeling that no one's cared about him before, so the idea of it is such a foreign concept that it blows his mind." Laguna paused briefly, "He's a good kid though. He just needs a few lessons in 'Trust' and 'Love'."

Dagger giggled at that, but it was a short-lived snigger that ended with a soft sigh that sounded thoughtful and perhaps sad. Silence fell for a long moment then and Kaiyou pressed her ear closer to the crack of the door, holding her breath to listen. Finally, Laguna added, "I think he also needs a good parental influence- someone to reinforce those lessons of 'Trust' and 'Love'." He sighed as well.

Kaiyou licked salty tears from her lips as she slid the door closed again and retreated from the door, sitting on the bed silently. Curling her knees up against her chest, she wrapped her arms around them and stared at the Darkness.

_'They... care for me? Umi? Is it possible? ...did... did Laguna... just...just say he... wanted to adopt me!'_

_'I think he did...'_ Umi admitted, and didn't sound like she disapproved of the idea.

Joy warmed her heart, _'And all without the stupid paperwork- he... all he has to do is just take me and maybe get Minnie's permission and signature and it's official! Even if he takes me back to Esthar, he's the President! What can they say? Oh god... I – I have a CHANCE! Sixteen ISN'T too old to be adopted!'_

Falling onto her side in bed, Kaiyou uncurled and rolled over, pulling the blankets out from beneath her. Unable to wipe the smile from her face, Kaiyou wrapped herself in the blankets and buried her face in the pillow to dry her tears.

* * *

Sora sighed softly, leaning against the balustrade of his balcony, blankly gazing out across the castle gardens. While he'd said he wanted some sleep, he'd found, after attempting to get some, he'd had the strangest of dreams. 

She'd stood there, wearing a white dress that looked like snow, a veil over her head, long hair down to her hips hanging free and straight... But it was odd, she was tall, slender- the body of a sixteen year old, not three and her image constantly flickered from brunet to blonde.

_'Her face... why can't I remember her face?'_

Snow- all around, endless planes of snow, with jagged jutting spars of ice pointing towards the sky, breaking the flatness, and there she stood in a graveyard, holding a bouquet of black roses.

_"Who are you?"_ she'd asked, pale skin, pale dress, black roses, she was an ice queen in her garden of death. She was blonde then, hair floating around her in a sun-touched halo.

Lost in memory, Sora closed his eyes, turning his face towards the warm breeze of the day, trying to remember the strange dream. Beyond the wall, he heard a bird singing cheerfully, as if trying to dispel Sora's inner chill.

_"I'm Sora." _Yes, that's what he'd said. He hadn't moved towards her though he wanted to. _"You don't remember me?"_

The cemetery was at the foot of a mountain, near a frozen waterfall that looked so familiar. _'I can't remember where...'_

_"Sora... Sora..."_ she murmured. _"Sora..."_ as if repeating his name would jog something loose, but she didn't turn towards him, didn't look at him. As if he wasn't really there, or as if he was a stone in her cemetery. The sky was white, snow began to fall from it, adding to the layers that already blurred the shapes of objects that looked so familiar to him- snow that distorted the shapes of the tombstones that were scattered across the gentle slope beneath the sheer mountain.

A petal fell from her roses. Black on white.

_"Sora, Sora, Sora..."_ she murmured, brows knitting in deep thought.

The more she said it, the more Sora felt as if there were something more about her that _he_ should have known, something he'd forgotten. Not just something lost over time, but something hidden from him by an outside source. The memory, a link fallen into the darkness, writhed and twisted at the bottom of his heart as it reached towards the light.

He couldn't move. He felt like ice.

Sora shivered in memory. How vivid that feeling had been, the ice, locking him- all around him, holding him firmly as if he were imprisoned.

_"Sora, Sora, Sora,"_ she continued- apparently unable to recall.

_"It's ME! I'm Sora! Remember me! Please!"_

Finally, she turned- changing into Aros as the diamond pendant at the young man's throat caught the light and Sora realized where he was. Ocean Blue captured his gaze and Aros's lips moved silently in what looked like one last _"Sora?"_ a shocked expression lighting his eyes. Then he'd woken, screaming The Girl's name, but he wasn't sure and couldn't remember what he'd said, except that he thought he'd said 'I'll find you, Aros' and now he was confused.

Opening his eyes, Sora sighed again, staring at the bright sunshine and still feeling the fingers of the Ice Dream clutching at the strings of his heart.

_'Hmm,'_ her voice murmured in his heart, drowsy and content with whatever physical situation she found herself in, _'You're sad today. You can't be sad. That's my job. And Umi's job is to be obnoxious and sarcastic and warn me not to do things because I might get hurt.'_

Again, Sora closed his eyes, concentrating on her voice, savoring it. _'Where did you go?'_ she asked, voice growing sad, _'I missed you. ...things have gotten so ...strange lately. I feel so lost. Nothing is like what it used to be. Except my enemies. They're here too, eating away at me. I need someone to encourage me... Talk to me? Tell me it will be alright?'_ she sounded so vulnerable, meek and pleading. Such a familiar tone of voice, yet he couldn't remember why.

Tears stung Sora's eyes and his fingers tightened on the balustrade. _'Where are you?'_ he asked, _'I want to be with you.'_

_'Hmm,'_ she said, _'I don't know. I'm very lost. Drifting, drifting... I think I'm in bed. ...ah-ha... I was Put to Bed. He put me to bed, like a father would. Can you believe that?'_

_'Who did?'_

_'You know who...'_ she sounded muzzy and vague now, but the link was still strong- stronger than it had been before. _'I'll name you too,'_ she added out of the blue, _'I'll name you Sora. After the Real Sora. You remind me of him, even if I don't know him.'_

Shocked, his heart picking up speed, Sora tried to remain calm and replied, _'You don't remember me?'_

_'Remember? Umi said... said I should figure out why he's in my memories. But I can't. I don't know. It's all so strange. I think I'm dead. No, not dead, this isn't heaven. This isn't hell. I'm lost in my own mind, after the train and the explosion.'_ Images filtered into his mind, recalled from that terrible dream of the train wreck he'd had not long ago.

Licking his lips, he asked, _'That was you? On the train?'_

She laughed at him, _'I guess that must have been when you were born. Umi said she was born a long, long time ago in the car crash when I was orphaned. The memories are gone, Umi says they're locked.'_

_'Locked where?'_

_'She won't tell me. She says she doesn't know. I don't believe her. She's a liar, just like me. But I know she does it to protect me. I have no one else. ...everyone else hates me. Sora hates me but he's too nice to say so.'_

Leaning forward, as if physical movement would make him more persuasive as he told her, _'I don't!'_

"I don't," Sora hissed aloud.

For a very long moment, he feared that their link had dissolved again, but finally, warmth seeped in through the cracks, and melted the chill touch of his dream. _'It's safe to love you,'_ she said, _'You're in my head. You can't betray me. Don't lead me wrong- please. All my choices always end up wrong. I try to take the best path and still it's the hardest, longest, and I end up lost because it wasn't the right one- even if I'm following directions someone else wrote. Don't lead me wrong!'_

_'I won't, Ki'you. I love you too.'_ Tears gathered beneath Sora's lashes as he bent over his hands, grinding his teeth. Why he loved her, Sora didn't know, but the feeling was undeniable and she seemed to need to hear those words more than he was afraid to say them.

_'Don't cry. Sora said "Good job" today. I didn't do it wrong for once,'_ Kaiyou sounded pleased now, pleased at what he'd told her, and what he'd told Aros, but at the reminder of Aros, guilt crept into Sora's heart.

If what Gary said was true, then Aros was in existence because of Sora, and it was thus Sora's responsibility to see that Aros was given the chance to live and learn as he wished. But it was also Sora's desire to see that Aros was given a place to call home if he needed it. Letting Aros go hadn't been that easy of a decision, but... _'If I'd forced him to stay, he'd have hated me. He does need to learn who he is and wants to be... But that doesn't explain the diary. How long HAS Aros been around?'_

_'You're sad again,'_ Kaiyou said,_ 'Sora... smile for me. I don't know how to. Not for real.'_

Shaking his head, he felt wet drops hit his white knuckles on the balustrade and Sora rocked slightly, trying to control his emotions, trying to summon a smile for her. Such little things she asked of him. _'But since I have the Diary, I can still help Aros, no matter where he is, and I've got this link to Kaiyou, so I can talk to her,'_ he realized, and the thought bolstered him, giving him the reserves he needed to steady himself and send her the smile she'd requested. Such simple requests, but that was his Kaiyou, at heart, she was rather simple. _'She likes Vanilla ice cream,'_ he remembered, _'I wonder if she'd like Sea-salt if she got the chance to try it?'_ Turning his thoughts back towards her, Sora sent her the smile in his heart and continued, _'I'll teach you how to smile. It's easy, once you know how to do it from the heart.'_

In return, he got to feel her contentment with the universe and the vague thought that it was strange, _'have to get exploded by a train to find happiness. Should have done it years ago.'_

_'You seem tired, Ki'you...'_ Sora observed.

_'You do too,'_ she replied, sounding muzzy.

On a hunch, Sora tried asking, just to make sure she was with who he thought she was with, _'Was it Laguna? Laguna put you to bed?'_ If she knew who Laguna was, he'd know exactly where she was and that she was safe.

She laughed lightly, _'Yes. He said...he said he wanted to adopt me... I think I'd like that. Even if he can't aim worth crap- he needs a weapon. Maybe we'll find one on the next world?'_

_'How is Aros doing?'_ Sora asked.

For a moment, she pondered that, _'Aros... the fake one... I think... I might abandon him soon.'_

_'Don't!'_ Sora gasped. _'Who knows what might happen to him?'_

_'...It'd cut down on a lot of confusion, though... you think I shouldn't?'_ she sounded sleepy, unconcerned.

_'Stick with him for now,'_ Sora replied, _'But tell me where you're going next?'_

_'We're taking Garnet home,'_ she murmured.

_'Who's Garnet?'_

_'Princess Garnet Til Alextandros the Seventeenth...'_

Trying not to be exasperated, Sora held his temper, _'But who-'_ he started, and realized that he'd lost her. Oh, he could still feel her, but she wasn't awake any longer and Sora sighed, letting her get the rest he couldn't seem to. Unfortunately, the conversation left him in quite a bit of confusion. Kaiyou was going by the name of Dagger, wasn't she? Then who was Garnet? He heaved a sigh and pushed those thoughts away, too tired to really give them serious thought.

Unbidden, a smile crept across his lips again, "She's alive, Roxas, my sister's alive. Maybe I can even pull in Aros and Kaiyou too and then... then all of us can be together?"

Roxas, having finally been informed of what little Sora remembered of That Day, smiled at Sora's words. _'That would be good. Maybe I should talk to Aros? He's frightened of you so much, maybe he won't recognize me?'_

"If you can catch up to them," Sora replied, "Alright... I... don't think Aros will let me close to him just yet." He sighed, "I hope I find my sister soon- so I can apologize for what I'd said that day. Why can't I remember her name or what she looked like though? It's like ...like someone stole the memory... Like Kaiyou did with the memory of what Gary did during that fight."

Roxas didn't immediately answer, and Sora leaned on his hands, staring down over the balcony at the ground, which was fairly far below. Heaving a sigh, he shifted, lifting his left arm to look at the bracer. In the morning sunlight, it glittered like ice, but to the touch it was quite warm - like holding someone's hand.

Sora placed his hand on it, touching the hard surface.

_"How could you? You knew that was my favorite! I never want to see you again!"_

Eyes widening, Sora straightened, "_That's_ what I said!" Leaning forward, he braced himself on the balustrade, biting his lower lip, "I can't believe I said that to her!" Memory trickled back, but it was nothing conclusive- nothing containing any names or images other than of himself, as if he was seeing the scene from _her_ eyes rather than his. He'd yelled at her and she'd run away, down the hall, down the stairs, outside. And then the memory went dark.

"Why did I say that to her? I didn't mean it!" At least he knew _that_ for sure.

_'It sounded like you'd meant it at the time,'_ Roxas ruthlessly pointed out, _'And it was a mistake to say that to someone who couldn't handle any kind of accusation.'_ Sora hung his head in shame, _'Don't go blaming yourself like that, though. You were three, you were just a kid. Things happen. You've got a second chance to be with her, to make it right. And you've got Kaiyou and Aros to worry about.'_

Sora snorted on a bitter laugh, "It's been thirteen years since then," he said softly, "And I've mostly forgotten her- she might hate me for that. And Kaiyou thinks I'm one of her multiple personalities, Aros is terrified of me, and I've got no clue where my sister is or how to find her."

_'Still, she's alive. That's more than you knew a week ago.'_

Nodding, Sora replied, "Yeah... it _is_ more than I knew a week ago." Lifting his head, he set his shoulders and wiped his eyes before opening them, "I'll make it up to her. And... Mom will just have to give up and adopt the other two. She makes enough money as President anyway."

_'So let's go over what you DO remember, Sora?'_ Roxas suggested.

Turning, Sora leaned his hip against the balustrade, lifting his hands to wipe his face. "Alright..." he agreed, though he knew it would be like picking at scabs. "Let's start with my sister..." he took a breath and let it out while he tried to think back. "I yelled at her and she ran away. And then, it was like she'd never existed, yet... I've always felt there was someone missing. And then Kairi appeared and it was like having her back. Only never quite the same. I got to protect her from the other guys who wanted to pick on her, but..."

_'You used Kairi as a replacement for your sister,'_ Roxas said. _'And that sudden blank in your memory is why –I- don't remember her either. That's a little unnerving.'_

Shaking his head, Sora folded his arms on his chest, "Why do you say that?"

Briefly, Roxas paused, then replied, _'Because, that means someone was messing with your memories long before Namine existed. Who else has that kind of power over you? Is it someone we should watch out for?'_

Sora licked his lips, "I don't know..." Silence fell for a moment, each of them lost in their own thoughts that they didn't feel like sharing with each other. Finally, though, Sora continued, "When I asked Mom where my sister was, Mom said she was dead." He closed his eyes, trying to recall that long ago conversation.

_'That seems to be when your memory got blanked,'_ Roxas observed.

Nodding slowly, Sora agreed, "Yeah... Mom said... Mom said," he slapped his hands over his eyes, grinding the heels of his hands into them as he tried desperately to remember something that had happened so long ago. "She said some people that hate Dad took her and that they'd gotten into a car accident and that my sister was dead. And after that, Dad never came to visit again."

For a long moment, Roxas was silent, then finally said, _'Who is your Dad? You don't seem to remember him either.'_

Lowering his hands, Sora frowned, "Man. Half my family is missing and I never noticed till now!" Irritated at himself, he turned and kicked the balustrade in frustration. "And what did I go and do? Replaced them with Riku and Kairi!"

_'That's not as bad as it sounds, though, Sora,'_ Roxas pointed out. _'You do love Riku and Kairi.'_

"I know, but... the fact that I don't even know my own father's name... All I remember is that he had green eyes." Pausing, Sora frowned, "No... did he?" rifling through his memories, he paused at an image of a pair of green eyes looming over him, a look of worry in them, surrounded by graying brown hair. "No wait. That's Laguna, from when he was crouching over me in the Salem square. Why _was_ he that close to my face-" a blush raced up from his neck to his hairline. Eyes widening in horror, Sora shouted, "Eew! _Eew!_" and desperately wiped his mouth as he realized the truth.

Dancing around in panic, he finally turned and ran from thebalcony and into the guest room he was using, heading for the bathroom to brush his teeth with bleach or something.

It didn't help that Roxas was laughing at him.

* * *

_AN: I begin to think many of my readers have not played a majority of the final fantasy games that have characters appearing in the KH games. I suppose I shall have to start making an effort to give a brief summary of events of the ff games. PLEASE do not eat me for spoiling you should I do so! I just feel this is necessary so that you guys aren't so TOTALY lost that the story is no longer enjoyable to read. I promise that the summaries will not only be slightly modified but also not contain all the plot secrets from the games so you can still go and play the FF games and be all like 'woah cool!' when you come across something I didn't mention. Okay? Also, if you have played the games, general rule: if I don't say anything about it, assume it happened just like it did in the game._

_Next chapter: Join Crocodile Hunter Kaiyou on her DANGEROUS safari into the treacherous swamps of Laguna-land! Don't feed the Moombas._


	38. New Times New Chances

_Chapter 38_

_(New Times New Chances)_

Yawning, Kaiyou stretched as far and broadly as she could, then collapsed back into bed, staring at the dark ceiling with a slight smile curving her lips. Sure she'd had some odd dreams, but otherwise, her sleep had been restful and now... well, now she wanted a bath. The question was- was there anywhere to get one on this dinky ship?

Not only did she need a bath, but the idea of getting some food sounded good too. Shifting, she rolled onto her side and got to her feet, wiggling her toes in her socks. "Amazing clothes, these," she mused, looking down at herself in the darkness of her room. Not only did they not tear or stain, but they didn't seem to get dirty either, which was a blessing considering how rancid she smelled. Lifting her arm, she didn't even have to sniff.

Pulling a face, Kaiyou stood and stumbled over her shoes on the way to the door. Coming against it, she carefully slid the door open in its track and listened intently for voices. There was nothing... all was silent.

Slowly, Kaiyou pushed the door open further and stuck her head out, peering both ways up and down the hall. All the doors were closed. Well, that was fine. Already knowing what was beyond the door on the end of the hall to her right, Kaiyou looked at the other doors and pondered. _'These are probably bunk rooms too...'_ she mused, looking at the door across from hers. _'But, best to check.'_

Cautious of making a sound, Kaiyou stepped out of her room and came to the other side of the hall in two steps- it wasn't a big ship after all- pressing her palms to the door, she slid it open slowly and peered in.

Inside, Dagger sighed softly in her sleep where she lay facing the wall, partially covered by the blanket, her own shoes neatly tucked under the bunk.

Smiling slightly, Kaiyou shut the door again and turned, heading down the hall to the door beside Dagger's. It was empty and contained only a bed and dresser at the end of the room. Turning, Kaiyou tried the door across from it. This door too led to a bunk room, and it too was empty- which meant that Laguna was awake somewhere: possibly lurking in the bridge to keep Kaiyou from hijacking the ship and taking off somewhere.

That suited Kaiyou just fine. She wanted food and a bath undisturbed by his excited chitchat.

_'Dad...'_ she tasted the word, letting her eyes fall half-lidded as she contemplated it. How simple it was, yet carried so much meaning. _'I wonder what he'd do if I called him Dad?'_

_'Possibly freak?'_ Umi suggested.

Pouting, Kaiyou pointed out, _'Hey! I talked to Sora, so...so... lay off with the sarcasm just a little?'_

Softly, Umi sighed, _'Alright. Talking to him as long as you did was a big step for you. But next time... don't run away?'_

Unable to help herself, Kaiyou giggled and clamped her hands over her mouth to keep from getting loud, _'Okay Umi! I'll try.'_ Heading towards the door at the end of the short hall, Kaiyou placed her hands on it and slid it open slowly, peeking in. The room was dark, but that was a good sign because it meant Laguna wasn't occupying the room, since it appeared to be a kitchen. Sliding the door open further, she stepped in and looked around, hand finally finding the light switch. "Jackpot," she whispered, spotting the fridge on the other side of the room. Turning, she closed the door behind her and headed towards the fridge, but paused as her eyes caught sight of another door nearly directly to her left. Peeking her head in through the opened entryway, she grinned, "Oh- all in one spot, Food and a Bath! But... now I must choose!" excited and possessing far too much energy for her own good, Kaiyou shifted from one foot to the other in a little dance that would have made people look at her odd if anyone had been there to witness it.

"Bath!" she decided finally and turned stepping into the cramped and tiny bathroom with a toilet, sink, mirror, and shower stall all packed into a space that was barely bigger than a closet. Sliding the door shut behind her, she undressed, folding her clothes on the toilet lid to keep them from getting wet. She could already tell that this was going to be an enjoyable experience, cramped quarters or not! "I love baths," she purred.

* * *

His neck was aching, his back was killing him, and his mouth was dry. Though all of those things were bad enough individually, combined with the general full-body-bruise feeling he had, Laguna decided that he truly felt uncomfortable and woke up from his fairly deep sleep. 

Opening his eyes, he lifted his head and blinked blurrily.

"Good morning," Kaiyou said cheerfully where she sat in the chair on his right, combing her nearly dried hair.

Turning his aching neck, Laguna stared at her, having to pick out the individual things that had changed on her one at a time. First, she had clean damp hair, which she was combing with an ivory and silver comb that had emeralds set into the silver. Second, she looked well rested. Third, she was smiling slightly and looked quite pleased with herself. Though on fourth thought, the first and second things he noticed might have been the reason for the third.

"You got a bath?" he asked the obvious because his brain wasn't working quite yet. He needed caffeine.

Flicking her eyes towards him from beneath her bangs, she replied, "No, it's drool from my pillow."

Blinking, Laguna rubbed his face with both hands, "Hnnf, don't be so mean. I just woke up."

Smiling at him, Kaiyou immediately replied, "Okay. There's hot water left if you want to take a shower too. Actually, I suggest that you do. Oh, and there's something unidentifiable but tasty in the fridge you can heat up for breakfast. Lunch? Dinner? Brinner? Ah, Linnerfast."

"You ate?"

"No, I absorbed it through _osmosis_- oops, sorry, nice, must be nice. Hm, yes, I had something to eat," she flashed another smile at him and Laguna couldn't help but laugh. Silence fell again, but it was a companionable silence and Laguna watched her comb her hair. "It's getting long," she said after a time, "I should cut it."

Looking up at him as he shook his head, Laguna replied, "Why not grow it out?"

His question twanged an old memory- something she'd forgotten, but apparently, now wasn't the time to remember it, so she sat silently for a time, trying to think of a good reason to keep up her charade of being male. Other than for Dagger at least until they got her home. "Hey...? Can I ...ask you something?"

"Hmm?"

Lifting her eyes again, Kaiyou met his gaze, he wore an open, attentive expression despite obviously being sleepy still. Licking her lips, she pushed onwards, "-Don't tell Dagger I'm ..." she looked down at herself, "Not yet... I- don't want to lie to her, but I don't want to embarrass her either. I _do_ like her, I like her a lot, as a friend... the first I've ever had. I want to get her home, though, in time for her coronation, and then she can find the guy she loves and then it won't matter that she kissed me."

"Kissed you?" Laguna quirked a brow, "Hm, I guess that _is_ a bit embarrassing. Alright. If she's not figured it out on her own by now." Reaching over, he tipped Kaiyou's chin up so he could look into her eyes, "You can count on me."

Happy, she smiled at him again.

"But uh, what's this about a coronation?" Laguna asked.

Flushing, Kaiyou looked around, "Um... well, I- I guess you'd have known when we got her home anyway... Dagger's a princess and Gary kidnapped her four days before she was to be crowned queen. So she really needs to get home soon, before something happens. Can't have a country without its leader... Actually, that reminds me, Laguna. How long have you been away from Esthar?"

Laughing softly, Laguna sat back and stretched his arms over his head, "Four years now, I'd guess. I'm surprised you even believed me about that. By the look on Allison's face when I mentioned it, I bet she thought the only country _I_ was president of was 'Laguna-land'." He tapped the side of his head with an amused smile.

Kaiyou sniggered, and put on her Crocodile Hunter voice and spoke into her comb, waving a hand, "Ah, the vahst strehtchehs of Lahguna-lahnd! An ahwesome territohry _filled_ with Ahdventure ahnd unnamed whild ahnimals!"

Laughing, Laguna lolled back in his chair, "They're not wild exactly. They're called Moombas, and I taught them to talk, thank you!"

Lowering her comb, she quirked her brows, "Oh really? What do they say?"

Broadly, the mage grinned, "Why, 'Laguna!' of course!" as she giggled, he continued, "I never said they were particularly intelligent, just that they talk. Now, if only I could convince some Moogles to immigrate, we'd be all set with talking fuzzy creatures." With a soft humm, he looked up at the ceiling as he said, "I gave you and your brother Moomba stuffed animals once."

Kaiyou's breath caught and she stared at him, brows lowering, "What'd you say?" shaking her head, she sat back from him, incredibly disturbed by that sudden comment. _'It's... almost like the stuff Gary used to say when he'd done something to me and I'd Forgotten it.'_ "I'm sorry," she said slowly, "I think you've got that wrong... since coming to this universe, things have been a bit strange, so maybe I just look a lot like your dead daughter or something... the way I look like Sora?"

Putting her hands to her head, Kaiyou scratched her fingers through her hair. _'Or all of this is in MY head... Kaiyou-land? With vast stretches of purple and green space, odd worlds where anything can happen- like talking cats and self-aware cartoons- where Princess Kaiyou gets all her fantasies come true? This sounds like one of those terrible self-insert stories Erin's always writing. If only it was, I'd write myself with some boobs.'_

_'Or it COULD be real...'_ Umi put in.

_'Why do you want me to believe that?'_ Kaiyou had to ask. _'That's like the fourteenth time you've said that. Sure I want to believe that... that... Laguna wants to adopt me and that Sora's my brother or a million of the other good things that have happened here, but...'_ lifting her eyes, she peeked at Laguna once more. He wasn't looking at her. He hadn't said anything more since her claim that she wasn't his real daughter and it occurred to her that she might have hurt his feelings with that. He'd not been very willing to talk about it before.

Looking down again, Kaiyou lowered her hands to her lap. "...though... if you..." he looked over at her from the corners of his eyes, which made her blush and suddenly change her mind on what she was going to say. He'd never really said outright that he wanted to adopt her, after all. Best to keep her assumptions to herself.

"Do you think I should put some real effort into being girly...?" she asked instead. Even if all this was in her head while she lay in a coma, knocked out by that train wreck, Kaiyou decided, _'Let go, take hold. Even if it isn't real, I'll believe in it because I know the feelings I have ARE real and I'm not likely to be this happy anywhere else in my life. I will accept my craziness and be happy for the first time ever.'_

Reaching over, Laguna placed a hand on her hair, pushing it back from her face and tucked it behind her ear as he leaned over to tell her, "Nah, you're great the way you are."

Blushing, Kaiyou stared into his eyes, memorizing the way they crinkled at the corners and the lines around his gently smiling mouth. He was a handsome man, even as old as he was, but beyond that, she loved the expression he was wearing and wanted to remember it forever. This moment seemed real enough for her to believe in. Maybe if she believed hard enough, she could make it really come true- the way Umi had said she had the power to do.

Inside her bruised heart, Kaiyou uncurled and reached, letting go of the past to take hold of this new future. _'Is this what you meant when you said "let go, take hold"?'_ Umi didn't have to answer for Kaiyou to know she had finally reached the correct answer.

The bridge door slid open. "Oh-" Dagger murmured, blinking. "Did I interrupt something?"

Turning her head, Kaiyou pushed Laguna's hand off her hair and slid to her feet, ducking under his arm, her face hot and she knew she was blushing, "Not at all! Did you sleep well?"

Yawning, the princess entered the room, reassured that she was welcome. "Yes, thank you, Aros."

Licking her lips, Kaiyou glanced towards Laguna briefly and corrected, "Kaiyou."

Nodding, Dagger smiled, "So he knows now?" Looking towards him, she smiled, "I'm glad."

Kaiyou nodded slowly, "Hm. It was nice of Sora to go and make up a name for me, but it's ...it's like he thinks I'm just a reflection of him, and I'm not."

Dagger hesitated, giving Kaiyou an odd look briefly, then stepped over to wrap her arms around Kaiyou in a light hug. "No, I meant that I'm glad you've finally decided to trust him!"

A dark blush suffused Kaiyou's face as she realized that. _'Trust? Have I learned how to? When did THAT happen?'_ Thankfully, Umi didn't answer. Instead, she just let Kaiyou wander back through her recent memories and find the answer on her own. _'Back when I took Sora on his word. When he promised to give me some space. I believed him, fully. I trust him to not come chasing after me again immediately- he'll wait for me to go to him now, and I trust that he will.'_ Closing her eyes, Kaiyou smiled slightly, placing her hands on Dagger's shoulders, _'I've learned to trust!'_

_'I'm very proud of you,'_ Umi said softly.

Smiling, Kaiyou patted Dagger's shoulders and she stepped back. "A new path opened up last night," Kaiyou said, "Shall we go check it out?"

Looking towards Laguna, the mage yawned and said, "Can I get a shower before we hare off on another adventure? Maybe some coffee?"

"Ou, coffee. I'll have a cup too if you're going to make some," Kaiyou immediately said.

Turning his chair, Laguna got to his feet, "You kids be good now."

Saluting him, Kaiyou grinned mischievously, "Of course!"

* * *

Demyx stepped back into the cross-hall he'd been about to exit from and frowned. There he was again, that tanked jerk, Reno, lurking in the hall. It wasn't just the fact that the guy reminded Demyx far too much of Axel, but the fact that he was always where Demyx really didn't want him to be. 

What was with all these Heartless? Walking around like they owned the place... It made him... well, he didn't exactly have a heart to be sick with, but Demyx certainly didn't like the way they bossed him around, as if he were their personal servant. He'd had to find even more remote places to sit alone and contemplate the emptiness of his existence, or just sit and stare blankly out across the Dark City.

Then... there was his third option for entertainment in this bloody drafty mausoleum of a castle, which Reno was preventing him from. Even if he didn't have a heart, Demyx still managed to be quite irked over this development. It really wasn't fair that he was being prevented from seeing her, after all, he was the only one with _permission_ to see her, therefore, she had no one else to talk to. So it wasn't fair to _her_ that he was being stopped by that spying redheaded jerk.

Irritated, he again peeked around the corner, finding Reno just pushing off the wall he'd been leaning against, meandering off down the hall in a staggering pace that had him careening off the walls and doorframes. Demyx winced in sympathy for the bruises the guy was likely to have. _'Serves him right though. He shouldn't drink that much.'_

Shaking his head, the blonde waited until Reno had passed around a corner on the other end of the hall and was out of sight.

Still, not trusting that the man was gone, Demyx crept silently out from around the corner and stopped at a door. Looking both ways, Demyx opened the door and stepped in. However, this was not his final destination in this quest, this was just the first step. Turning left in the large sitting room, Demyx headed to the bookshelf on the other side of the room and after pulling out a book, reached into the hole to flip a switch. The soft click told him that the safety mechanism had been deactivated, and Demyx turned, hurrying to the other side of the room to open the secret passage and step through before the override timed out.

Though the device couldn't kill him permanently, it still hurt a lot and he didn't feel like setting off the alarms. Last time he had, Xemnas had yelled at him for days.

Now, Demyx carefully crept down the hall, careful to be silent as he walked, for this passage went between several Organization member's bedrooms and certainly went past Reno's- who'd taken over Axel's old room, surprisingly enough. While Demyx would have loved to have just opened a portal and stepped directly into her room, Xemnas had sealed the rooms she occupied, making it impossible for any Nobodies or Heartless to just teleport in. At least he was egalitarian in that, for even Xemnas had to sneak through this very hall to get to her.

Demyx smirked to himself at the thought, as he always did, though he was only pretending to feel satisfaction.

Pushing those thoughts away, Demyx stopped at the final door of this secret passage and pressed his palm print to the reader slot, waiting while the computer analyzed it.

Finally, the door opened, and Demyx stepped through from darkness into white.

"Demyx," she said, looking over from where she sat at her vanity mirror, brushing her nearly butt-length cinnamon hair. She'd neglected to put on clothes again, but what did it matter in this place where he was the only one to see her? Instead, she was wearing a loose white-silk night robe that ended just about where her hair did.

Standing, she set her brush down and jogged across the wide expanse of marble floor towards him, arms up and wide, much like a happy child. The innocence was belied in her eyes, though, the ocean blue color was dull and lifeless. Smiling as she slid her arms around his shoulders, she pressed her lips to his. "Demyx, you've been gone for so long. Even Xemnas hasn't come to see me."

Lifting his hands, he placed them on her back.

So thin... she'd always been thin though, but lately she seemed to be getting thinner. He worried that she wasn't eating enough. "Not as long as last year," Demyx pointed out, "But you survived that."

She lowered her gaze, "No, not as long," she agreed, though she didn't know why everyone seemed to have forgotten her for so long. Demyx actually had a very legitimate reason for his absence that time. He'd been kinda dead. However, she didn't need to know about that, nor did she need to know about anything else going on in the universe. Demyx sighed softly, putting his face into her hair. She smelled clean as ever.

"Not as long," she continued, "But I wasn't having dreams then."

Standing back, Demyx looked down at her, "Dreams?" he asked, confused. She'd never spoken about having dreams before.

Stepping away from him fully, she turned her back, linking her hands behind her, long straight hair floating around her thin body as she moved. "Yes, Dreams." Lifting a foot, she delicately placed it in front of the other, walking on an invisible line as she spoke. She was very graceful, very fluid in her movements. He'd taught her to dance so she would have something to do when he wasn't there, or something active to do when he was there, playing his sitar. "I think that's what they are." Looking over her narrow shoulder at him, she blinked once, expression blank and cool, like the marble she stood on. "I've been feeling strange lately, so I sit down on the bed or couch, and then I close my eyes and lay still- like you do. And then I'm standing in this place of white. It is cold and there are little specks of white coldness falling from the white sky, and I'm wearing a white dress and veil and holding black roses."

Turning towards him fully, she stated, "He said his name was Sora."

Demyx's eyes widened. "S-sora?" he wheezed, "You're sure?"

In two long strides, she was standing in front of him again, looming at him on her toes in a way he'd never seen her do before. The air around her was charged, eyes sparkling as she leaned against his shoulders, "Tell me, Demyx. You know. You know everything! You're out _there_, doing _things_. Tell me the things you do, like you used to!"

Shocked, all he could do was stand and stare into her eyes.

He'd never realized how beautiful they were till this moment, lit from within in a way he'd never seen before.

Her slender fingers wrapped around the collar of his hood, "Demyx!" she pleaded, drawing his attention to her mouth, which was now frowning slightly, a little line appearing between her thin high-arching eyebrows.

Leaning down, he pressed his lips to hers. She didn't return the kiss, though. Instead, she surprised him by stepping back, giving him a hurt look. "Don't change the subject," she pouted at him, making him want her all the more in ways he'd not felt in quite some time. "Tell me about Sora!"

"I- I can't," he told he finally, too off balance to pretend ignorance of the whole subject, "I'm not allowed to."

Rolling her eyes, she turned away, hair flipping as she moved, "Xemnas doesn't have to know," she offered, "I can keep secrets. Who else do I have to tell after all?" Again, she looked over her shoulder at him and Demyx shifted uncomfortably. It was like when he'd first met her.

Back then, she'd been brimming with energy. But, over time, that energy had dulled, faded, and left her like an empty husk. No, she was even more alive now than she'd been back then. Now, she practically glowed, as if possessed by life rather than just possessing it.

Like always, she still wanted to be entertained when he was there, which he was glad to do. Playing for an audience of two was better than playing just for himself, and he'd taught her checkers and poker and a million other games she could play with him and by herself. He'd nursed her back to health after Xemnas had saved her from the ones who'd beaten her nearly to death. He'd taught her how to speak, how to read, and how to care for herself. In short, he'd taken the place of her father and Demyx sometimes berated himself for feeling attracted to her. But then, when he thought about it, what did it matter what he did with her? She would die eventually, unlike him, and he had no heart, and therefore couldn't feel honestly guilty or repentant, so he didn't worry about it. Although, he did have that little niggling thought in the back of his mind that he shouldn't, that it was morally wrong to take advantage of her like this. Besides, when he had no heart to love her with, giving into his physical attraction to her was the best he could do to show her he did at least give a little thought to her existence.

Once again, she was staring at him with her eyes bright and excited. There was something new in her life and she wanted answers that he seemed to have. This was a mood he'd not seen since she was three, since she'd been brought here. "Please, Demyx?" she asked, "Please tell me about Sora? I-" she placed a hand on her chest, between her small breasts, "I feel like I know him, like I should know him, yet... I can't remember! I want to remember... he sounded so upset that I couldn't remember."

Licking his lips as he stared at her slender boyish body, Demyx tried to contain himself, tried to pull his mind back onto what she'd been saying. That little voice in the back of his head told him that she'd probably set him up. She was an intelligent girl, she was smart enough to figure out how to manipulate him when she wanted something. She must really want to know to go through this much effort, for now she was playing with a lock of her hair, pouting at his silence and he was finding it hard to breathe.

"S-Sora..." he started slowly, "Um... well... uh, he's the Keyblade Master... well, one of three... four, now I guess. No five. Roxas is running around now too."

She bit her lips, trying not to interrupt him, though he could tell she was brimming with questions, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

Swallowing, Demyx shifted uncomfortably, "_Please_," he begged, "Xemnas will kill me if I say anything more!"

"Then tell me why I can't know?" she offered.

Whining, he danced from one foot to the other, "But that's about the same as telling you everything else!"

She pouted at him again.

Cringing, Demyx clenched his fists at his sides, trying to resist, honestly trying to not give in to the temptation to give her what she wanted. She rarely asked for anything as it was. Just a Vanilla ice cream, or a hug, or a game... It was he who had brought what _he_ wanted into the equation, giving her a hand-hold on him that she was apparently _not_ above using. Speaking of hands, she placed hers on the side of his neck, lacing her fingers into the longer hair at the back of his head. "Please... Demyx?" she mewed softly

Opening his eyes again, he found himself falling into Ocean Blue.

"Tell me why you won't tell me?"

"Because we're using you."

* * *

_AN: Okay, so far, I've been keeping the chapters to about four to eight pages in length, but uh. We're already past 30 chapters, and I'm thinking I'm gonna bump the page count up to about seven to ten pages per chapter to maybe keep down the number of chapters peeps have to read if they're starting the story from the beginning. We'll try a few chapters, and if you guys think it's too long, then review and tell me. Okie?  
__By the way. Moomba picture: geocities. com/ demonicfangirl/ origpics/ Sanctuary/ Moomba. jpg_

_Next Chapter: A Toast to Confusing the Universe, and the dream that spawned the crack-fic "Sora and the Big Bad Wolf"._


	39. Mysteries Reexamined

_Chapter 39_

_(Mysteries Reexamined)_

Finally, Sora had gotten some sleep, though it hadn't been very pleasant, considering the memories he kept walking in and out of in weird dream sequences.

He'd stepped out of a TV into Lilliput and gone stomping down the road to the ice cream shop and ordered two jumbo double scoop waffle cones; one for himself and one for his sister but after wandering around Lilliput, Sora had gone back through the TV and began searching through Toontown with the ice cream, trying to find his sister and give her hers before they melted. Then Aros appeared out of nowhere and said that he'd hated Sora and wanted to marry Gary and Kaiyou's voice had laughed and said she doubted she'd _ever_ be so stupid as to marry Gary because Gary was a butthead and she'd rather marry Sora if she had to marry someone. Then he was on the beach with Aros, and Aros was sitting in the sand and Sora had called for him to come swim, only a whale leapt out of the ocean and ate Aros before he could answer. Oddly enough Pinocchio was doing a tap-danced on the whale's head with a little blue-eyed brunet girl in a tutu, angel wings, and a halo, and she was singing, _"It's all your fault! All your fault! All your fault..."_

Scrubbing a hand in his hair, Sora cleared his mind and focused instead on the plate of food that was set in front of him by one of the animated brooms. He hoped the cook was some animated kitchen appliance and not a broom. Like the cook in Beast's castle. Thinking of animated stoves was a heck of a lot better than thinking about the blue-eyed brunet angel girl in his dream and wondering why her sing-song accusations hurt so much.

"You sure seem tired, Sora, are ya feelin alright?" Goofy asked, leaning across the table to put a hand to Sora's forehead.

Blinking, the boy sat up, "Oh- uh, yeah. I just had some weird dreams." He sighed, then smiled, "I'm alright."

Pursing his lips, Roxas eyed Sora, "Better than some dreams you've had. I rather liked the part where you were the lead in a musical rendition of Little Red Riding Hood with Kairi playing the Big Bad Wolf." He gave a wolf whistle which made Sora blush crimson.

Putting his hands to his face, Sora groaned, "Remind me to never go to bed hungry! I have weird dreams!"

Sniggering, the blonde Half-Nobody looked towards Axel, who was seated beside him, and winked. Across from Axel, Donald sighed gustily, "I tried to tell you to eat shomething!" he pointed out, "But you shaid it wash okay!" Wagging a finger at the boy, Donald concluded, "Sho it shervesh you right!"

A grin snuck across Sora's lips and he lowered his hand, "You sounded like my mother, I _had_ to ignore you!"

This announcement had Donald standing in his seat, throwing a hissyfit at the top of his lungs, "_Whaaghahh!_" This of course, made Daisy, who was seated between Donald and Goofy, giggle behind her hand. Minnie, at the head of the table was in the process of taking a sip of her drink and nearly spilled it as she choked on a laugh.

While the table had been set for eight, one seat was unsurprisingly empty.

Khimari had refused to eat with them- not because he was too good for that, but because he thought it wasn't his place. He was a Guardian, and one that had failed, or so he'd said, and that had been all Sora had been able to get out of the Rhonso on the subject. So, as per Roxas's suggestion, Sora had left Khimari alone and instead gone to harass Axel into joining them because the redhead had tried to turn down the offer as well.

As for why Roxas was there, well, that was for Axel's comfort, which Sora didn't mind accommodating because Roxas had wanted to talk to Axel and everyone else instead of being stuck with Sora as his only source of conversation. Besides, like this, Roxas could talk about what he wanted to talk about with out having to hijack Sora's mouth to say it while Sora was in the middle of eating.

_'I never realized how oppressed Roxas really was,'_ Sora mused, peering at his Nobody from the corner of his eyes, _'Having no one but me to talk to. Wanting to join in conversations with other people but unable to because they wouldn't be talking to him, they'd be talking to me... Silent, unknown... It's almost as bad as being forgotten. Existing yet no one knowing you exist even if they're staring right at you.'_ The thought made Sora shiver, _'I'm going to introduce him to Mom when we get home. He deserves to have a mother too. She'll just have to get used to it.'_ Alas, that would be four new children his mother would have to just put up with feeding all the time.

In any case, breakfast- though technically it was lunch- was served and Sora picked up his fork and dug in.

"Sora," Minnie said after a few moments of silence where everyone was concentrating on eating, "Someone arrived while you were sleeping. He said he wanted to see you and that it was important."

Lifting his eyes from his plate, Sora swallowed and said, "Okay. Who is it?"

"Master Yen Sid," Minnie replied.

Dropping his fork in shock, Sora sat up, "But- the blood!"

Minnie could only shake her head and shrug, "I'm afraid you'll have to ask him about that. He just asked me to give you the message." Softly, she sighed and Sora huffed, turning back to his meal, intending to finish it quickly and go find out what had happened to the old wizard.

Abruptly, Roxas sat up and looked around the table. "I just had-" he stated, drawing everyone's attention, "-an epiphany."

"Did it hurt?" Sora replied without missing a beat between bites of his lunch.

Staring at Sora for a moment while Axel sniggered behind his hand, Roxas huffed and stated, "Ever heard of being nice to yourself?" he sighed and spoke before Sora could swallow, "Rhetorical question, don't answer that," he said quickly, then continued, "I just realized that this universe is whacked up."

"How do you figure _that_?" Axel asked sarcastically, still laughing. Minnie just couldn't find the words and Donald and Goofy simply didn't understand.

"When a heart is separated from the body, two beings are born, right? The Heartless and the Nobodies... Why is it that the _Hearts_ turn into Heart_less_ and the combination of Body and Soul turns into a No_body_? Isn't that a misnomer?"

This, of course, caught Sora halfway through swallowing a gulp of his drink and he spit it halfway across the table which made Donald and Goofy cackle and Minnie covered her eyes. Daisy used her napkin to dab at the wet spots, shoulders shaking with in-held laughter. Axel nearly fell out of his chair, which was pretty talented considering that it was a captain's chair with the arms firmly attached.

Sora lifted his glass and called, "Then let's correct the problem and forever call Heartless Nobodies and Nobodies Heartless!"

"Here's to confusing the hell out of everyone!" Axel called the toast, lifting his glass to tap it with Sora's over Roxas's head.

Ducking, Roxas covered his hair with his hands, "Hey! Don't spill that on me!"

"Afraid to get a little wet?" Axel sneered and tipped his glass threateningly.

Quickly, Minnie intervened, "Not at my table!" and with those words the brewing food fight was nipped in the bud.

Settling back in their seats, Sora, Axel, and Roxas turned their attention back to eating.

Pushing his plate back, Sora finished off his drink and looked towards Minnie for permission to leave the table. "You're finished?" she asked and he nodded, "Take Roxas with you. Yen Sid mentioned wanting to see him as well. He's in the East Tower, top room."

"Okay!" Sora agreed and looked towards Roxas. His Nobody cut him a look from the corners of his eyes as he sipped the last of his drink. "Ready?"

"Yes, but I'd rather walk there on my own," Roxas replied, asserting his individuality once more.

Lifting his hands, Sora shrugged, "I don't mind," he replied with a grin, appearing completely oblivious of Roxas's dark thoughts or intentions or even the Nobody's feelings. Axel's lips twitched downwards. Together, they pushed their chairs back and headed towards the door, Roxas closing it lightly behind them. "Alright now," Sora stated, turning towards his Nobody, "What's got you in such a snit?"

Roxas looked away and started walking, "I'm not in a snit," he said.

Snorting derisively, Sora jogged to catch up with Roxas, linking his fingers behind his head, a smile pulling at his lips, "You've got half my heart, I _know_ when you're upset."

"I'm not upset!" Roxas denied and lifted his head, looking towards Sora, then away again with a sigh, "But that's just the thing. It's half _your_ heart."

Hands dropping to his sides, Sora half-turned, walking sideways to look at Roxas as he spoke, "Look, Rox," he started, then paused, "I consider you my brother. Not part of me, not something that shouldn't exist. You're _you_! An irreplaceable person in your own right. Y'know... I've been thinking about it and really ...maybe we can find some way to make it so each of us has a whole heart? It's not fair of me to keep you locked away. You're nothing I should be embarrassed about or anything, after all."

First turning his eyes, then his head, Roxas looked towards Sora, a smile creeping onto his lips. "When will I learn to just come out and say things?" he asked, "Sora. You're really something, you know that?"

"Huh?" Sora blinked, pausing as Roxas continued walking ahead. Again, he jogged to catch up and laughed softly, linking his fingers behind his head again, "Oh, I think I know what you mean."

"Yep. You're _something_. Not sure what, though," Roxas agreed.

"You know- maybe I can convince mom to adopt you," Sora said.

"Along with Aros and Kaiyou..." Roxas pointed out, "You're really going to tax that woman's patience with you. Seriously. You already do. I mean what kind of lame-o excuse _was_ that you gave her before we left? 'I'm going to go camping on the island, mom. I'll be back'." Roxas sighed, "No time limits... nothing." Never mind the fact that she'd given him a rather _knowing_ look, but didn't say a word other than asking that he be careful and to come home soon.

Rolling his eyes, Sora frowned up at the ceiling as they walked through the halls of Disney Castle, heading towards the East Tower. "Yeah, well... you know how dysfunctional our family is anyway. What with Mom being the President and Dad nonexistent and missing and my sister supposedly dead and thoroughly forgotten. Which reminds me, why aren't there any pictures of her in the house?" He closed his eyes, doing a mental walk-through of his home... "Even the babybook has empty slots, now that I think on it."

Roxas could only shake his head, "I don't know, Sora. I don't pretend to know anything beyond what you know."

"You know lots of stuff, Rox," Sora objected, turning his head to look at his Other as they reached the door to the East Tower at last.

Pushing the door open, Roxas stepped in, "Hm," the Nobody muttered and together, they paused, looking up at the spiral of stairs. "Oh... crap. Wasn't the East Tower the tallest of all the towers in this place?"

Sora blinked, "Really? Where'd you hear that?"

Annoyed, Roxas turned towards his Other and replied, "It was in that little booklet on the bedside table that you looked through during your bout of insomnia. Seriously, your capacity to retain information you read is akin to trying to hold water in a sieve! It's amazing your grades are as good as they are!"

The brunet broke into a broad grin and he lifted a finger to poink Roxas on the nose, "But if you hold the sieve under the water it flows in and right back out. So there's no need to hold all the information in the world."

"Gyah!" Roxas threw his hands into the air, "You're hopeless!" Turning, he started jogging up the stairs, Sora still laughing as he raced to catch up.

* * *

"Man! What is it with wizards and their obsession with heights?" Sora whined as they finally reached the top landing and leaned forward, putting his hands on his knees, gasping for breath.

Roxas paused, moving to lean against the wall, wheezing, "So they can get some exercise when they go down to get something to eat?"

Exchanging looks, Sora sniggered and shook his head, "Nah, I think he sends Meriwether down to snag him dinners or something. Or Flora and Fauna. After all, they've got wings."

As one, they straightened and set their shoulders, stepping towards the door. "Maybe he teleports?" Roxas smirked at Sora as he suggested this and lifted a hand towards the wood of the door to knock.

Soundlessly, the door swung open on pitch darkness and Roxas turned to look, hand still raised.

"Enter," a voice stated from the darkness beyond the door.

Again, Sora and Roxas flicked a glance towards each other then slowly stepped in.

The door slammed shut behind them, loosing them in total darkness. Silently, Roxas reached out just to make sure his Other was still there. His fingers contacted Sora's hand as the brunet stepped forward a pace to stand beside Roxas. "Yen Sid?" Sora called, voice echoing eerily in the darkness.

For a long moment, only the repeat of Sora's call answered them.

A light flared and both of them jumped, turning to look at the single candle that sat on a desk next to an ancient tome.

Slowly, Sora stepped forward, passing Roxas, and stopping at the desk. "When darkness is at its strongest..." the aged voice of Yen Sid murmured, disembodied in the inky depths of the room, echoing off unseen walls, "...A single light can prove a guide to those who are lost. However, a single light alone cannot illuminate all that is dark and will eventually fall."

"Sora," Roxas whispered, "The bracer!"

Looking down at his left arm, Sora lifted it and the refractions of the candle's light off its surface threw spots of brilliant rainbow colors around the room.

In a flash, the entire room lit, revealing Yen Sid standing on the other side, near a window, staring out at the world beyond. He looked more aged than usual, his complexion gray, the wrinkles on his face more prominent. "But when Light is refracted," Yen Sid murmured, looking out the window at the green countryside below, lain out like a giant quilt, "It can turn the tides of battle. Though it has no light of its own, this substance will always reflect the light around it. However, when surrounded by darkness and corrupted, the purest version of this substance can _become_ darkness itself."

Turning from the window, Yen Sid looked them over with a slight frown on his lips. "You look worse for wear," he stated, eyeing the ragged state of Sora's clothes. "Much like the other stray kitten that came through my study..." Limping as he stepped forward, the aged wizard made his way across the room to slowly slide into the high-backed chair set in front of the desk.

The room, Roxas noticed, was set up much like Yen Sid's old tower, with shelves on one wall, full of magical tomes and histories. Another set of shelves had oddball objects that Roxas was hard pressed to put a name to, and if his life depended on knowing what those things did, he'd be dead.

"Yen Sid- Are you alright?" Sora asked urgently.

Lifting a hand, the old wizard waved his fingers. "It was a difficult battle," he admitted, "But I survived."

_'Of course. Otherwise we'd be talking to a corpse... or a zombie,'_ Roxas thought, then shook his head as he realized Sora couldn't hear his sarcastic comments.

"But what about the blood I found in your tower?" Sora insisted.

Brushing aside that topic with a wave of his hand, Yen Sid stated, "Sora, do you know what it is you have on your arm?"

Thrown off balance by the sudden shift of topic, Sora lifted his left arm again and looked at the bracer there. "Uh," he started to say, "A gift?"

"Not a gift," Yen Sid sighed, "For you cannot keep it. For now, though, you should use it to its fullest extent. It will automatically protect you when you face the enemy you have in common, but you should learn to control its form for other desperate battles." Lifting his chin slightly, Yen Sid concluded, "Know, though, that you will have to return it to the one who sent it to you. But only when all the other pieces are in place."

"Woah, Yen Sid, could I ask you to be a little more specific? You're not making the least bit of sense," Sora requested, spreading his hands palm up. Roxas put a hand to his face, trying to pretend that he didn't _know_ Sora.

The look Yen Sid gave Sora was despairing, and while he didn't _say_ 'and _this_ is the one who holds our collective fates in his hands?' the wizard's gusty sigh sure did. "Aros is the one you must look after. Leave the others to your allies," Yen Sid said bluntly.

"But- Kairi and King Mickey-" Sora started but the wizard waved that objection away.

"You must prevent them from capturing Aros! All other things will follow from that," Yen Sid insisted. "Go," he pointed towards the door to his left.

Obstinately, Sora tried to protest again, but Roxas grabbed his Other and hauled him bodily by his head towards the door Yen Sid had pointed towards. "Hey! Roxas!" Sora objected once the door was closed, "What was that for?"

"You were arguing with him," Roxas stated, "He told us what he was going to tell us, so just do what he says! He probably knows what's going on more than we do."

"Yeah- but why won't he just tell us?" Sora pouted.

Rolling his eyes, Roxas lifted hands, then dropped them, "He _did_, Sora. You weren't paying attention."

"Oh _dear_!" a female voice huffed as a puff of red sparkles formed into one of the good fairies. Two more puffs, green and blue, appeared beside her. "What a mess!" bustling forward, she made a few circles around Sora, clicking her tongue at him, "Oh dear!" she repeated, "How in the world did your clothes get like this?"

Flushing, Sora scratched the side of his head, "Eh, I got into a fight that turned out to be worse than I'd thought it would be?"

Folding his arms, Roxas shook his head and glanced around before turning to head towards the door- only to find the blue fairy blocking his path. "Where do you think _you're_ going?" she shook her wand at him.

Shocked, the young man backed up a step and came back to back with Sora as the three fairies surrounded them. "Now girls, on three!" the red fairy stated, "One, two, three!"

Wincing, Roxas lifted an arm to cover his eyes when he was hit by the combined blast from three directions. Slowly lowering his arm, he blinked, "Woah," Sora murmured, and Roxas peered back over his shoulder at his Other who was now clothed in a red jacket with a black hood, white shirt with the tail hanging halfway down his thighs over black shorts. Strapped around his hips was a dark blue belt, the straps for his side-packs were red, and the packs themselves were blue. "Roxas- that's so awesome!" Sora pointed in return.

Immediately looking down at himself in confusion, Roxas found that his old outfit was now replaced by a black vest with a folded collar, a white short sleeved shirt that ended at his hips, clinging to his chest. His pants, now dark gray, were flopped loosely over white, black and red tennis shoes. Feeling something around his neck, Roxas lifted his fingers to touch the X pendant he'd always worn on his zipper. Now it was hung from a choker. At least he still had his wrap rings and checker bracelet. Those had been a gift from Hayner in a world that had never truly existed.

"Now," the red fairy stated, "Sora, your new clothes allow you to channel your energy into that bracer," she pointed her wand at the clear object encasing his arm, "So you can change its form as you need it." Looking towards Roxas, she smiled, "Your new clothes are special as well. You'll be able to borrow energy from your allies and use their abilities briefly."

As one, Roxas and Sora nodded in understanding. "Thanks!" Sora said cheerfully, "I outgrew the last set you made for me. Otherwise, I would be wearing them."

"A new challenge requires new abilities," the fairies replied and as one, they disappeared.

Exchanging looks- Sora's cheerful, and Roxas's confused- they turned and headed out the door back into Yen Sid's study, only to find it empty of the old wizard. "Man... we've gotta go all the way back down those stairs," Sora sighed.

"I think the trip was worth it," Roxas stated as Sora started forward.

"Roxas..."

Pausing, the blonde looked back over his shoulder, blinking as he found Yen Sid sitting at the desk once more when he could have sworn the chair was empty a second ago. "Do not forget your own worth," the wizard stated, "For once you do, you will truly become Nothing. But also, do not undervalue your relationship with Sora, for one day, you may regret giving it up."

"Roxas!" Sora called from the door, "What're you doing?"

Lifting a hand, the blonde pointed towards the chair- which was quite empty again. "I..." he paused, blinking, "You didn't see him?"

Confused, Sora spread his hands in a shrug as he replied, "See who?"

"Oh," Roxas murmured and shook his head before he turned to walk past Sora, heading back down the stairs. "At least the trip down should be faster than going up," he called.

Blinking, Sora shook his head and closed the study door with a slam, then raced after his Nobody.

* * *

Heaving a tired sigh as they got to the bottom again, Roxas shook his head as he took a moment to lean against the wall and stretch his legs, "Almost makes me wish I were just a regular Nobody again. I could have opened a portal and cut down on time wasted."

Sora flashed a grin and wheezed out, "But then we wouldn't have gotten to have that contest to see who could get to the bottom first!"

With a roll of his eyes and derisive snort, Roxas replied, "Contest to see who could break their neck first."

"You're just mad 'cause I won!" Sora teased.

"Am not..." Roxas pouted and shoved off the wall, only to get tackled by Sora in a hug that ended with a rough noogie. Howling with mock rage as he tried to fix his hair, Roxas took off after Sora, chasing him around the circular confines of the tower's base, then out into the hall. "I'm gonna _kill_ you!"

Pelting down the hall at a dead run Sora cackled gleefully as Roxas shouted threats of, "You're _so_ gonna regret doing that when I catch you!"

As he reached the end of a hall, Sora hit the breaks, skidding on the marble, and somehow managed to round the corner without hitting the wall and was off again. Roxas took a better way and leapt onto the wall, running along it briefly before dropping back to the floor. At least he didn't have any Keyblades drawn. Rounding another corner, Sora abruptly turned and leapt onto the balustrade and over it, dropping down into the garden below, practically on top of Goofy as the dog-man was in the process of sipping his tea.

Directly after Sora, Roxas launched over the railing with a howl of, "Come _back_ here, you buttmunch!" He landed in the center of the circle of chairs in the garden, occupied by Minnie, Daisy, Donald, Axel, and Goofy, then leapt over the cowering Goofy who'd thrown his teacup aside in an effort to protect his head from falling Sora's and again, the chase was on.

Putting on a sudden burst of speed, the Nobody launched himself in a flying tackle and caught Sora around the waist, knocking him to the ground. A brief moment of wrestling brought the blonde out on top with Sora in a headlock, scrubbing his Other's hair vigorously. Sora flailed and backed in circles, trying to free himself, but was unsuccessful in his attempts.

Finally releasing his Other, Roxas was off again, cackling maniacally.

Minnie sighed and sipped her tea, "Boys... will be boys, I suppose," she mused, then peered over at Axel who was bent over his knees, shoulders shaking, face bright red, nearly the same color as his hair. In a loud wheeze, he sucked in some air, lips pulled back in a hysterical grin as he laughed so hard he couldn't breathe.

Roxas and Sora came around the bend of the path again, Roxas still in the lead, but not for long as Sora managed to tackle him in return and they rolled into the bushes out of sight with a few more howls and then Roxas came out again, jogging backwards as Sora emerged, hair even worse, "Ha! Best two out of three, I win!"

Laughing, Sora staggered over to where Minnie had been holding her calm little tea party and grinned, dropping down to a seat in the grass where he started running his fingers through his hair, trying to fix it. Roxas, panting, dropped down to sit beside him, but didn't bother fixing his hair, instead, he eyed Axel, "What're _you_ laughing at?" he grinned.

Gasping, Axel shook his head and wheezed, "What a wonderful mood you're in today. It's been ages since I've heard you call someone a 'buttmunch'. I thought that was Xigbar's special name!"

Rolling his eyes, Roxas replied flippantly, "Xiggy's not here, so it's Sora's new name."

"Hey!" Sora objected. "Fine. If I'm Buttmunch, you're Squirt."

"I can toast to that!" Axel replied, lifting his teacup despite Roxas's objections. "So, Squirt, where're we headin now?"

Finally giving up using just his fingers to fix the mess Roxas had made of his hair, Sora pulled out a comb from his side-pack and applied it to the tangles. "Well, Yen Sid said that we need to find some weird something and keep Maleficent and the Organization from getting a hold of it because... uh, Roxas, do you remember why?"

Rolling his eyes, Roxas leaned back on his hands with one foot kicked out in front of him, the other knee up. "Because," the blonde continued as Sora bent forward hissing as he pulled at knots in his hair, "the stuff is some sort of prism that can refract the light of a single heart and make it stronger. But it can also be used for the opposite purpose when corrupted." He leaned over and pointed at Sora's bracer, "I think Yen Sid was talking about something that looks like that." Sitting back on his hands again, Roxas continued, "_However_, Sora forgot to mention that Yen Sid told him specifically to go look for Aros and that everyone else could take care of themselves."

"But-" Goofy started, leaning forward, "What about Kairi, Riku, and King Mickey?"

Roxas shook his head, but Sora replied before his Nobody could, "I asked about that and Yen Sid just yelled at me and said they'd be fine. Aros is mostly _my_ problem, and even then- ouch-" he yanked the comb out of his hair. "Even then, he's not really a _problem_. I mean, it's not like he did anything bad when he was using my name, and he's still not causing problems. But-" he hissed in pain as he yanked the comb through again and hit the same knot.

Irritated at Sora's picking at the knots, Roxas reached over and snatched the comb from his hands and moved to kneel beside the brunet and started ruthlessly fixing the damage he'd caused. "But Aros has powerful enemies that can kick _your_ butt, Sora," Roxas pointed out, having been given access to Sora's memories of the last few days- a far more efficient way of exchanging information between themselves than talking, "Aros is a good fighter, but nowhere near as skilled as you. He'd be creamed if he went up against Gary."

Wincing in pain, Sora grunted, "Yeah- ouch!" Lifting his hands, he clenched his fists, "Do you have to yank so hard?"

"Yes. One good yank and the tangle is gone, unlike your wussie picking at the knots. You probably peel your band-aids off slowly too, don't you? I believe the word for that is 'Masochistic,'" leaning down, Roxas smirked at Sora's face, "Can you say that? It's a big word, I know..."

Shoving Roxas away, Sora sniffled and scowled, "Hush you. Ever heard of being nice to yourself?"

"Nope, foreign concept," Roxas replied haughtily and returned to yanking out knots, ignoring Sora's hisses and squeaks. "So in short, Yen Sid told us to catch up with Aros because he's the prize in this chess game." Again, Roxas leaned around to look at Sora and said, "So Axel and I will follow you to where you last saw Aros and when we find him, I'll talk to him."

Tears of pain in his eyes, Sora nodded and snuffled on the back of his glove, "Alright- just finish fixing my hair, would you?"

Grinning, Roxas sat back and started work on the rest of the knots he'd put into Sora's hair.

* * *

_Next Chapter: A SURPRISE and some guys in black coats!_


	40. Wandering

_Chapter 40_

_(Wandering)_

Well if it wasn't exactly like his usual luck, he supposed it was close enough. After all, if it were nothing like his luck, he would have thought there was something wrong in the universe.

The boy heaved a gusty sigh as he overlooked a cobblestone paved square watching people shop and talk and do various other things associated with living. In the distance, a strange half-built castle stood overlooking the city of Tudor styled houses with rock walls separating sections of the city, the beginnings of greenery beginning to bud and bloom. Beside him, flowing down the slope in an artistic waterfall was a spring of cool clear water.

He sat in this scenery, on a set of stairs leading down to the market square, knees apart, elbows on them as he leaned forward, mid-back length silver hair partially in his face as he contemplated his luck, his fate, and the general state of the universe in rather negative terms. Yes. His luck sucked, his fate sucked, and the universe was going to hell in a hand basket as far as he could figure, and the only one who could stop the oncoming disaster was a ditzy brunet boy with the mentality and attention span of a toddler on a double espresso high.

So there Riku was, lost and looking for a way to get back to Destiny Islands to find that idiot Keyblade Master, Sora, who was probably still hunting under Riku's bed and in Kairi's closet for some sign of his best friends and getting distracted by Riku's stash of adult magazines he'd stolen from his dad's collection. Unfortunately, Sora was so innocent he'd probably not have any clue what to _do_ with the magazines.

_'I've tried... and tried and tried to help that boy,'_ Riku thought blandly, _'But he's so oblivious that I doubt he'll ever get laid unless someone jumps him. Unfortunately, Kairi's too sweet to do something like that and Selphie just isn't interested.'_

Heaving yet another sigh, Riku lifted his hands and scrubbed his face, _'At least he's finally realized that Kairi has TITS and has started looking at them. God. HOW long did it take him to notice? Oh, that's right, three years and I about had to grab him by the scruff of the neck and shove his face into her cleavage! Heh. I might still do that. It could get interesting. They'd probably both turn a lovely shade of vermillion. Sixteen, the both of them, and still completely oblivious!'_ Riku shook his head slightly with a fond sigh, _'Ah, the things I do to my friends. For. Do FOR my friends.'_

"Excuse me?"

Pulled from his wicked thoughts, Riku wiped the sadistic smile from his lips and sat up, first noticing the knee high white socks and doe-skin shoes. Then there was a lovely span of pale creamy thighs, leading to a pair of short black shorts clinging to narrow but rounded hips, and then the gentle curve inward of her waist wrapped in a black silk Chinese style shirt with white flowers painted across it. Her breasts were on the small side, but perfect for her body type, narrow shoulders, left arm clad in a doe-skin gauntlet-glove contraption that was probably armor of some sort. Finally, Riku's gaze got to her face, which was quite cute with bright grey-brown eyes framed with short black hair.

The girl standing over him leaned forward, looming into his face in an intrusive manner, and while Riku found her attractive, her invasion of his personal space had him leaning back. "Ah-ha!" she announced, as if she'd discovered something in his face that had an impact on the universe as a whole. Standing back, she lifted her hand and leveled a finger at him, "You're _Sephiroth_, aren't you?"

Staring at her finger, quite unable to comprehend what the hell she was talking about, Riku took a breath and stood. "_I_ have no idea what you're talking about," he replied, "And didn't anyone ever tell you it's rude to point?"

Immediately curling her finger in, the girl thumped her fists on her hips, "I knew it! You're Sephiroth in disguise! You talk just like him! Although, that's not a very good disguise, since I saw right through it."

"Or _maybe_ it's all in your head?" Riku suggested.

She denied that vigorously with a shake of her head, "Nuh-uh! You've got his eyes and his hair, except for the bangs, and you're really tall and you talk like him!" Leaping back, she fell into a fighting stance, "C'mon! I'll murderize ya!"

A breeze blew some paper across the cobblestone landing as Riku stared at her, "...Right, I'm... just going to ignore you now," he informed her and turned away, intending to find somewhere else to sit and decide how best to eviscerate Sora for being a retard without actually killing him.

Leaping forward before he'd fully turned, she slapped one hand against his arm, the other hitting against his hip, hand sliding into his pocket before he could even blink. Eyes widening, Riku turned back towards her, calling his Keyblade, Road to the Dawn, and took off after the girl as she ran off down the stairs.

Hitting the bottom of the stairs, the girl dodged through the crowd, heading towards the other side of the market square. Sending his blade away for the time being, Riku changed his stride slightly to duck and weave through the crowd, though he didn't have to work so hard at it as the girl did. For some reason, when people saw _him_ coming, they got out of his way, _she_ was more hindered by the crush than Riku was. However, once she got to the other side where the press cleared, she was running flat out again. Riku lengthened his stride as soon as he broke free of the people and ran up the steps on the other side of the square, past an old duck that looked much like Donald in a top hat with a mustache.

Riku growled as he rounded a corner several yards behind the thief. Unfortunately, she knew exactly where she was in this rat warren of a city and he didn't which gave her the advantage of knowing what would be on the other side of a turn. At least there were random factors such as pedestrians in the road that were slowing her down.

As they hit a straight road, Riku made up some of the distance he'd lost on the girl going through the turns and called his Keyblade again for a little extra reach, slapping at her with the flat of the blade. He didn't want to get arrested for assault or anything tedious like that.

Unfortunately, she looked back, eyes widening as she realized how close he'd gotten and put on more speed, zipping around another corner abruptly and Riku skidded in his sneakers across the slick cobblestones to make the turn. The houses went past in an unidentifiable blur. The people they passed were left in the dust, very few making any sort of impression on Riku as he ran. Other than that one guy with eyes and hair the same color as Sora's but he was too tall and wearing very Un-Sora-Like pissy expression, arms crossed on his chest.

"Come back here, you brat!" Riku shouted in fury as the girl put more distance between them with another turn, but found as he rounded it that she'd crashed into a brunet woman in a pink sundress.

The green eyed woman looked up as Riku skidded sideways around the turn, their eyes meeting and in that split second, he could have sworn by the look on her face that she'd recognized him. "Yuffie-" she started to say, but the thief girl was already on her feet and fleeing.

"Get Leon! This guy's gonna _kill_ me!" the thief girl wailed as if the sight of Riku bearing down on her really was quite terrifying.

"Gimme my _WALLET_!" Riku shouted back and raced onwards.

The girl dodged around one final turn and Riku was immediately behind, only to find that she'd skidded to a halt and spun around to face him once she'd realized that it was a dead end. Panting, he slid to a stop and pointed his sword at her, "You're cornered, now give it back!" he ordered.

Scrunching her face, the dark haired girl stuck out her tongue. "You're gonna have to make me!" she ordered, falling into a fighting stance.

Eyes narrowing, Riku growled, "Fine. Don't say I didn't give you the chance to end this quietly, though." Stepping back with his right foot, he lifted his Keyblade up into his ready position, left hand extended forward.

Abruptly, the girl gasped, rocking forward a step as if she'd been hit in the back of the head, "You- I know who you are now!"

"I'm Riku!" he stated, stopping her before she came up with something even more off the wall, "Not Sephiroth, or anyone else you think I look like."

This announcement made the girl blink and straighten, "...Riku? As in _the_ Riku? The one Sora's been looking for?"

"Yep." Riku stated, but didn't drop from his fighting pose. "Now give me my wallet back or I'm going to have to _take_ it from you forcefully. Sora's friend or not, you're still a thief."

Opening her mouth, the girl seemed about to say something, then paused, her gaze going beyond Riku to something else. At the same moment, Riku heard the sound of booted feet on the cobblestones behind him and Riku shifted his balance, expecting the pair of newcomers to be allies of the thief girl. Amazingly, she shouted instead, "You're a liar- You're _exactly_ who I thought you were!" With that, she hurled his wallet at him and turned, scaling the wall at the end of the alley by running up it.

Catching the wallet with his already extended left hand, Riku darted forward and turned to face the newcomers and paused, frowning deeply as what he now faced a pair of men that not only had serious family resemblance to each other but... well, in short, they could have been _Riku's_ brothers too.

Silence fell in the alley as Riku stared from one to the other. One was thin with narrow shoulders and hips, his hair was nearly as long as Riku's was now and the same shade, hanging down his back in straight locks that were evenly cut. His face was narrow with high cheekbones set below brilliant blue-green eyes. Clad all in black leather the way he was, the man looked pale as a ghost. From his belt hung a pair of guns with what looked to be blades attached to them.

The other man was taller and broader with bulky muscles, his hair was silver as well, close cropped in a spiky buzz. Those same blue-green eyes gazed at Riku in an expression of muted... joy? Tears glided down his high cheekbones and the sight of such a big man crying made Riku highly uncomfortable.

Now, Riku had lived long enough to know when to fight and when to run, and the odds of beating two big strong guys like this in a narrow dead-end alley weren't in Riku's favor. Stuffing his wallet into his pocket he flashed a smirk, "Bye!" he said quickly then turned, taking the route the black haired girl had used to escape.

"Wait!" the gunman called as Riku reached the roof. Confused, but figuring it best not to ask, the young man continued off, running along the rooftops to put some distance between himself and the two before dropping back down into the streets to further cover his path in case they could scale the wall the same way he had.

Landing, Riku sent his Keyblade away and straightened, looking left and right down the completely empty street he'd landed in. "Great," he muttered, "Now I'm _really_ lost." Not that he'd had any specific destination in the first place, but well... Still, he had only one set place he knew of to teleport out of this world and back onto the ship he'd stolen from the Castle that Never Was.

Lifting a hand, he shoved his fingers through his hair, though his bangs fell right back into his face seconds later. Sora had once said he looked like a sheepdog when he had his hair in his face, but Riku just couldn't make his hair behave. In the same conversation as the sheepdog comment, Kairi had offered to cut his hair for him, but the way she'd smiled when she'd said that had terrified Riku. Sure, she _meant_ well, but...

Self-consciously, Riku brushed his hand down the back of his hair. "She'd probably try to make me look _cute_," he muttered with a horrified shiver, glad that he lacked sufficient imagination to think of what Kairi might have done if he'd not been smart enough to turn her down. Flipping his hair back over his shoulders in a determined gesture, he turned right, walking along the empty street with his hands in his pockets._ 'Maybe I should ask that gentleman duck I ran past earlier if he knows Sora? Or at least Donald.'_ It was a good place to start anyway- once he got back to the market square.

All around him, the same Tudor styled houses stared out at him with blank windows, though Riku could tell by the pots of flowers beside the doors and curtains in the windows that people lived there. Where were they though? This end of town looked a little more run down than the market square. And while it was annoying that the houses looked practically identical to each other, the really irritating part was the fact that there were no helpful signs to point him in the right direction. Down at the end of the street, a figure stepped out, and Riku sighed with relief. Someone to ask directions from! No, he didn't have any macho pride to salvage on this issue, he was _lost_.

As he neared, Riku realized that the guy was not out for a walk. He was just standing there- obviously waiting for Riku to approach _him_. Not only that, but the guy was the same brunet guy Riku had passed earlier with the pissy expression. "Hey," the silver haired boy called as he got closer, "Mister, could you tell me how to get back to the market square?"

Still, the man looked pissy and was hefting a weapon that was a cross between a gun and sword a little over half the length of his own legs. Riku stopped about fifteen feet away, "Look, if the thief chick was your friend, I didn't hurt her," Riku spread his hands, palms up in a gesture of peace, "She took my wallet."

"Who are you?" the brunet man demanded and Riku frowned, "What do you think you're doing here?"

Now thoroughly convinced that everyone in this town was hostile, Riku folded his arms on his chest and settled his weight on his right hip, "I'm Riku, and I'm looking for Sora," he stated. "He's a brunet," he held out a hand at a little over his own shoulder height, "About this tall, blue eyes, goody-two-shoes help everyone attitude and the attention span of a small dog. You seen him?"

Soft giggling from around the corner preceded the woman in pink, and she stepped into view, a hand lifted to cover her smile, "I have to say, that _does_ sound like someone we know."

"Aerith-" the brunet man started, then turned partially to look at her as she walked past him boldly. Whatever cautionary comments he was going to make, the man blew off with a sigh and rolled his eyes, "whatever..."

Smiling, Aerith approached and held out her hand, "Hello, Riku, it's nice to finally meet you! I'm Aerith."

Glad for the change of tone in the conversation, Riku opened his posture by shifting his weight to both feet and dropping his arms. Taking the woman's hand, he shook it lightly, "Sora mentioned you," Riku admitted, then peered back, "Huh. That must be Leon then?"

Laughing again, Aerith nodded, "Yes, and the girl who took your wallet was Yuffie. She's a bit impulsive sometimes."

"Long as she keeps her sticky fingers to herself," Riku replied, "I'm willing to forgive her. But who were the guys in black? I don't think Sora mentioned them..."

Silence fell and Leon's gaze sharpened on Riku, "Guys in black?"

Riku nodded, "Had silver hair, green eyes. A skinny gunman and a muscle guy."

"That's them," Leon muttered, "did they say anything to you?"

Shrugging, Riku replied, "They looked like thugs, I didn't stay to play." Biting her thumbnail, Aerith looked away, her eyes downcast. She seemed to be stifling laughter, but before Riku could ask, Leon replied.

"Don't get into a fight with them if at all possible," the gunblade wielder warned darkly, "They're a lot faster than they seem... they're clones of Sephiroth."

Cocking his head to the side, Riku blinked, "Hm," he grunted, "Well, I can certify I'm _not_ a clone. I've got a birth certificate, and you can tell Yuffie that too."

Aerith snorted abruptly, still turned partially away, her hand fully covering her mouth now. When she turned to look at him, her emerald eyes were bright and warm and Riku's breath caught. Lowering her hand, Aerith smiled at him again, "I'll make sure she knows," she said and turned, heading back towards Leon, leaving Riku with some rather strange thoughts to ponder.

_'She looks like mom,'_ was the thought that finally surfaced.

_"You promise to be a good boy for your daddy, Riku..."_

_"She's gone to the stars, Riku..."_

Shaking his head, Riku pushed his memories away and realized belatedly that Leon had said something- possibly along the lines of 'this way' and turned, starting off. Scrubbing his forehead with the heel of his palm, Riku blinked and started walking, though the unnerving feeling that he was being watched made him pause and look back over his shoulder- and up.

Silver hair floating in the breeze, the gunman crouched on a gable some distance down the street, a silent observer.

Stopping and turning halfway, Riku met the man's eyes, a slight frown pulling his lips as they stared at each other. _'He's dangerous, but I don't think he wants to kill me. Odd.'_

"Riku!" Leon called from around the corner.

Startled, Riku looked back the way he'd been heading- then seeing that Leon had not come back around the corner, he glanced back towards the gable- only to find the silver haired man gone. Turning and jogging to catch up with the gunblade wielder, Riku put the two strange guys out of mind. _'So what if they think I'm one of them. I remember what Sora said about Sephiroth and I'm NOT giving into the Darkness again. THIS is the path I've chosen to walk- the path between; The Road to Dawn.'

* * *

_

Lifting his cup of tea, Riku eyed the others over the rim as he sipped, seated on the stairs leading up to the strange platform Merlin had his dining table set on. The others were sitting on various chairs or boxes - or not sitting at all - around the room. The 'others' being Cid, Yuffie, Aerith, Leon, and Merlin. Yuffie was perched on a box, Cid had his computer chair, Leon was leaning against the wall near the door, and Aerith and Merlin had actual chairs and they were seated in a loose circle around the room.

"So that's what we've been doing over the past year," Yuffie finished, having nominated herself as the Official Speaker for Recounting the Restoration of Radiant Garden. All that _he'd_ really gotten out of the speech was that this world used to be called Hallow Bastion and it was where Ansem had come from and was also Kairi's homeworld. Of course, that was all the information that really mattered to him and if Sora wanted to hear all about it, he could ask them himself. If Riku ever found him to tell him.

And so, Riku sipped the last of his tea and lowered the cup down to the saucer he had perched on his left knee. "So," Aerith said, and her voice was still giving Riku odd feelings. "Tell us about what you, Kairi and Sora have been doing the last year?" she requested in a sweet tone.

"Hm," Riku grunted. "School," he stated with a sigh, "Trying to catch up and get back to the grades we _should_ be in, considering that Sora and I skipped an entire year. Our parents weren't too happy with that, Sora's mother, Ellone, took it rather well, actually. _My_ Dad had kittens." Rather sourly, he recalled the massive Grounding he'd received, and if that hadn't been bad enough it was topped by the Lecture he'd gotten just after the pronouncement that he was grounded, and still, even worse was Riku's father refusing to say anything to him after that, sulking around the house in a sullen silence. Riku shifted uncomfortably and looked away from the others, he doubted his relations with his father would ever be the same again. They still rarely spoke to each other. Dinners were exercises of patience conducted in stony silence.

On the other hand, President Ellone, who was filling in for the missing President Loire, had, by Sora's account, just sighed and shaken her head as if she'd completely expected this type of behavior from him. However, despite the lack of lecture or grounding from either his mother or the old couple he lived with, Sora had been cowed for weeks and had actually made a legit attempt to study for the tests to get into their proper grade – which he'd actually passed and Riku had failed, partially on purpose for the following reasons: first, it pissed off his dad, and second, he was now in the same grade as Sora and Kairi.

It was funny, how Sora really didn't fit the typical image of "President's Son" at all, but that was mostly because of his personality and the fact that he'd never gotten any special treatment for it. In fact, he seemed... more afraid of being known as the president's son than proud of the fact.

Ellone had chosen to send Sora to live with the retired Balamb Garden Headmaster Cid and his wife on the coast in a middle class neighborhood – safely away from the politically charged central nervous system of the country. And while the school Sora, Riku, and Kairi attended was private, it also wasn't the most expensive school in the country. Of course, Ellone had deliberately done it that way, trying to give Sora as normal a life as she could while also keeping his safety in mind. As a result, hardly anyone knew that Sora was her son and her visits, while as frequent as possible, were short and secret. No wonder Sora was so clingy to his friends; his family life was about non-existent. Father MIA, mother always busy, no siblings, under constant threat of becoming a political tool...

Pushing his dark thoughts away, Riku continued, "So that's about it. Except, a few days ago, Kairi and I were captured by Heartless and thrown into the dungeon of the Castle that Never Was with King Mickey. I escaped, but Kairi and Mickey got captured again. I promised them I'd come back with Sora and free them, but I've yet to find Sora."

"Sorry, kid," Cid said, taking his cigarette from between his teeth to take a swig from his coffee- because he didn't much like tea and the cup he was drinking was only half a day old. He liked it black anyway, so it tasted the same reheated as it did fresh. "We haven't seen Sora," the pilot finished after swallowing, "If he shows up, we'll tell him we saw you, though. Where're you heading after this?"

Shrugging, Riku turned partially to set his coffee cup on the stone platform beside him and said, "Onwards, I suppose, I don't know what lies beyond this world, so just tell him, if he hasn't noticed already, that I've had to lock the paths open along the way. So if he comes across one already opened, that's probably my trail."

Aerith nodded, "Alright, we'll tell him." Standing, she stepped towards him lightly, "Would you like more tea?" she offered, picking up the pot and moving towards him, to pour more anyway, regardless of his preferences. Giving in, since she was going to do it anyway and had already gotten up, Riku held out his cup. As she poured, she briefly looked up at him, eyes serious as she said softly, "You should talk to him."

"Who?" Riku asked, confused.

A smile touching her lips, she replied, "Your father."

_"Guys-"_ a strange disembodied voice announced from the corner behind Cid, _"There's an army of Heartless attacking the walls! There's too many for my defense systems to handle! If you don't help, the town will be overrun."_

Straightening, Aerith set the teapot down on the stone beside Riku. "Would you help us, Riku?" she requested, her emerald gaze meeting his blue-green. As if he could say 'No' to those eyes?

With a short nod, Riku stood, "Glad to," he stated.

Pushing himself off the wall, Leon picked up his gunblade from beside the door, opened the door, and walked out. Yuffie, leaving her teacup on the box she'd been sitting on, called, "Leon! Wait up!"

Cid left his coffee mug on the desk, pulled a spear out from the corner between the wall and desk and headed after the other two. Having no idea where they were going, Riku headed towards the door, intent on following the others when Aerith called, "Riku?"

Pausing at the door, he looked back to find that she'd pulled out a staff from the same place Cid had gotten his spear and was holding a green orb about the size of her palm towards him. "Here," she smiled, "Just don't let Yuffie see this or you'll never get it back."

Confused, Riku took the orb from her, rolling it between his palms. "What is this?"

She just smiled at him and headed out the door.

As he bustled around the room picking up teacups, Merlin said in a kind but firm voice, "You'd better hurry, Riku." Looking towards him, Riku nodded, then closed the door behind him as he stepped out into the street.

"Yeah," muttered the silver haired boy as he jogged to catch up with Aerith, "before I get lost again."

* * *

_AN: CID HIGHWIND SMOKES, and CURSES, Damnit! He isn't a FARMER+Nukes the people who Nerfed Cid for the KH games+ I can't believe they toned him down so much. He doesn't even say freaky symbols! BLASPHEMOUS! So, Cid is a special case in this fic. He's allowed to curse like the airship sailor he is!  
Also, sorry muchly for the lateness in posting this chapter. I was at a drunken sleepover. __  
_

_Next Chapter: Lots of fighting and cursing. Rar._


	41. Maybe a Mistake

_Chapter 41_

_(Maybe a Mistake)_

After closing the door to Merlin's house, Riku turned with a mutter under his breath, then jogged to catch up with Aerith who'd nearly reached the corner. Her braid bouncing on her back, she turned her head partially as she jogged, a quiet smile touching her lips. Giving her a slight nod, Riku jogged along beside her in silence for a moment as she headed towards some destination or other, he'd missed hearing where they were heading. But either way, they were going back down the road that Riku had met Leon on, and beyond. Looking up as he ran, Riku scanned the rooftops for any sign of the strange silver haired guys in black, but there was no sign of them.

"So where are we going?" Riku asked.

"To the Bailey," the woman in pink replied, her dress hardly seeming the best garb to fight in. Then again, his camo shorts and loose white sleeveless shirt weren't either. He'd fought in worse though.

Clearing his throat, Riku asked, "So what did you mean about my father?"

Laughing lightly, Aerith glanced towards him once more, eyes sparkling brightly as the sunlight caught them. "Exactly what I said. You should talk to him."

"He wouldn't listen," Riku muttered. "Ever since mom died, he's been about bipolar," shaking his head, and not sure why he'd actually divulged that information to this strange woman he'd only just met. It had taken years of knowing Sora before he'd said anything about his hatred of his own home. That had been when he'd come up with the raft idea. Never mind the fact that there was an entire world out there beyond the islands. He'd not thought of that back then. Nor had he thought about the fact that rather than getting to another world, they'd probably just drift for days on end out in the ocean with the President's son. Not only would it have probably ended with death and illness, but Sora was President Ellone's only child. She'd been oddly accepting of Sora's strange absences over the last few years, but he doubted she'd have sat still if her son had gone and gotten lost at sea. Certainly Cid and Edea would have had a fit.

"Odd," Riku muttered, coming out of his thoughts as they reached a flight of stairs leading up to the outer wall that surrounded the town.

Immediately, Aerith asked, "What?"

Looking towards her, Riku blinked, "Huh? –Oh. Sorry, thinking out loud. Don't mind me."

For some reason, she seemed to find that amusing and laughed. It unnerved him how much her eyes looked like his mother's, and the way she kept looking at him... as if she _knew_ something and wasn't going to tell him.

Unfortunately, further thoughts or questions were forestalled by their arrival at the top of the wall.

Four bubbles of darkness formed in the air just as they got to the top step and Riku immediately surged forward, flexing the fingers of his right hand as he called his Keyblade Riku took hold of it. In the same motion, he slammed the blade down on the head of a Heartless just as it stood up from dropping to the ground. The Heartless disappeared in a puff of black smoke and he was already attacking the next.

Behind him, he heard the clang of Aerith's metal staff hitting a Heartless. "Lightning!" she shouted then, and the air crackled and split, striking a Heartless near the gates at the end of the ledge. Another slice from Road to Dawn and the last Heartless to appear on the ledge was dissipating into smoke.

"This way!" Aerith called and dashed past him, but Riku paused, looking out past the chain link fence that stood another fifteen feet higher on top of the waist-high stone wall. Beyond, in the cracked and blasted ravine, Heartless swarmed- and beyond that was the castle that Maleficent had once claimed as her lair.

About to turn, Riku paused as he looked beyond the city wall again and blinked. Yes- there! Flashes of gunfire amidst the Heartless captured Riku's full attention, and he stepped closer to the fence and narrowed his eyes, peering through his hair at the figure in black.

Was that silver hair on that figure, or Leon's feathered jacket? Riku couldn't tell from this distance.

"Riku!" Aerith shouted and he tore himself from the distracting sight and ran after the woman in pink, through the gates into a narrow room with ledges overlooking the ravine. It was a slightly better view here, but Aerith was waiting at the end of the room, gesturing with her hand for him to hurry.

Flat out running, he pulled to a stop beside her, then followed as she headed out and down the stairs. Below, he spotted Cid running off down the slope towards the gates at the bottom and instead of taking the stairs, Riku vaulted the stone wall and dropped to the ground below, landing in a crouch.

Even as he stood again, he felt the unnerving prickle of someone watching him and looked up to find the large silver haired fist fighter standing on the roof of the bailey tower. Riku's eyes narrowed. The man frowned slightly, as if puzzled, but looked up and away, out towards the battle. Aerith passed Riku with a slap on his shoulder. "Hurry," she called, already several steps beyond him by the time he realized that she'd hit him. It hadn't hurt, but it had gotten his attention.

When he looked back, the big man was gone and Riku shook his head, taking off after Aerith. _'Why are they following me? It's unnerving!'_

At the bottom of the slope, Riku found a set of massive gates standing partially opened, Aerith already through them. Running through without a second thought, Riku followed the woman in pink even as he heard the squeal of metal. He did spare a glance back, finding that the noise was just the gates closing. Turning his attention fully forward again, Riku gripped his Keyblade tighter, readying himself for a very long and tiring battle.

Even as the thought crossed his mind, six bubbles of darkness formed and popped on the path leading down towards the ravine. Again, Riku leapt forward, meeting his enemies head on in a vicious set of slashes that knocked back the first Heartless and nicked a second. "Fire!" Aerith called from behind him and a Heartless exploded upwards in an unfamiliar fire spell.

"Woah-" Riku called even as he finished off his first Heartless of this batch, "How'd you do that?" Spinning around, he caught the second with a full hit this time and stepped forward to stab it through the chest. Writhing, the neo-shadow disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

Laughing lightly, Aerith replied, "Materia! But don't tell Yuffie I've got it!" The clang of her staff connecting with a Heartless set Riku's teeth on edge and he leapt back as a neo-shadow slashed at his shoulder from the right. Spinning to face his new opponent, he blocked another slash from the Heartless's claws and spun his blade around and under his enemy's attack, gutting it in a swift sweep of his Keyblade.

"Ice!" Aerith shouted and frost filled the air around another Heartless, then shards of ice slammed into it, as if they'd been pulled in by some sudden gravity well. The Heartless shrieked and disappeared in black smoke, leaving the path clear for them to head onwards.

Which they did, with much speed.

They got most of the way down the path before meeting up with more Heartless. They stood in a shifting line at the bottom of the path, held back by some force that the others didn't seem to notice. Riku's eyes flicked around the area, hunting for the source, but again, his eyes were drawn towards the gunman who stood on the other side of the ravine the path led into, on a ledge. Flexing his fingers on his blade, Riku considered suggesting that someone go after the gunman - namely himself, but his lips wouldn't move and Aerith didn't seem to notice the man.

"Damn!" a voice shouted from behind them, and Riku partially turned as the blonde spearman came surging past, "They're coming up from behind again!"

"Where're they all coming from?" Yuffie shouted her question.

Stepping aside as Yuffie landed next to him, Riku eyed her suspiciously, aware of the green orb he had in his pocket that Aerith had warned him the girl might try to steal. However, opportunity to think on that was stolen from him as the Heartless attacked, surging forward in a wave that Riku leapt forward to meet, thrusting his sword through the Neo-Shadows with little effort.

From behind, Leon called out his order for the others, "Try to find the one controlling them!"

Time seemed to slow for him, as he moved, slashing first one and leaving it to die. He spun, catching one leaping at his back and sending it flying. All else disappeared from his mind, all worries, all pain and fatigue. The battle _now_ was all that mattered and Riku reveled in the destruction, letting loose his darker side for a change.

Turning again, his sword held backwards in his grip as he snagged a Heartless by the neck and threw it into the air, slicing it as it fell, turning his motion into another spin that caught three neo-shadows and dissipated them into darkness.

Darkness washed up around him as he waded further into the swarm of heartless, away from any of his allies who might mistakenly get in his way. A vicious grin pulled his lips- he'd not had this kind of fun in a long time!

A kick caught another Heartless and launched it away as Yuffie zipped past, slicing it apart with her shuriken. As her weapons arced back around, Riku instinctively ducked, allowing the weapons to spin by just over his head, slicing a Heartless that had been leaping for him. While ducked, he lashed out with a kick behind him, then leapt, spinning to land a sneaker into the face of another Heartless that mistakenly leapt for him.

Throwing his weight into a flip, Riku landed in a crouch and dashed forward, the world blurring in his vision as he caught four unsuspecting Heartless in a row with his Keyblade as he went past them. His next target loomed ahead in the shape of a larger Heartless that was crawling out of its dark portal.

Clawed spike covered arms dug into the ground as a monstrous wolf-like head pushed through into reality. Black fur fluttered in the wind as the fifteen-foot tall canine Heartless pulled itself free of the Darkness. Eyes flaring brilliant yellow, the wolf wasted no time in attacking the first thing it saw: Riku.

As the canine Heartless's jaws dived down for him, Riku leapt aside, letting the creature eat dirt as he locked his legs and skidded down under the wolf's neck, slashing upwards with his Keyblade. All he cut was hair that turned into black smoke as it fell. Before Riku had another chance to attack, the canine was dodging away.

In a ready crouch to leap or run, Riku grinned savagely, "Oh, want to play chase, huh?" he sneered, "two can play that game. _Dodge this!_"

Lifting his left hand, Riku reached inside himself for the power of his heart and formed it into a blast of twilight energy that shot from his palm. The first two shots hit the Heartless canine as it chased Yuffie across the ravine. Unfortunately, the shots didn't seem to do any damage.

Furious, Riku tossed his Keyblade into the air, lifting both hands. This time, the air around him warped in gray energy, his hair lifting with the power he was calling upon. Gathering it between his palms, the silver haired young man released the blast of energy.

Curling through the air, the shot narrowly missed hitting Cid as he leapt by, trying to distract the Heartless from Yuffie. The Airship captain let loose a string of vile curses as he landed and slid to a stop, but then looked back at the source just as Riku snapped his twirling blade from the air and slashed it to the side as he took off in a run towards the stunned Heartless.

"Holy shit, boy!" Cid shouted as Riku went past. Whatever else he'd said, Riku didn't hear for he'd tuned out the man in favor of dodging to the side as the Heartless shook itself and took a snap at Riku with giant teeth in a head nearly six feet long. Leaping upwards, he finally got a solid hit on the Heartless's face, making it yelp.

Below, a bang went off as Leon slashed, then shot at the Heartless's back leg, making it back up another step as Aerith called, "Fire!" catching its head just as Riku landed. Launching forward, Cid beside him, Riku and the grizzled old man – who actually still had a cigarette clamped between his teeth – attacked the other back leg. Yuffie's shuriken slammed into the leg just above their double slash and with a sickening crack, and the leg folded beneath the Heartless's weight.

Yelping, the creature leapt over them, still able to balance on three of its legs and not out of the fight just yet. Instead, it sat back on its hind legs and howled in an earsplitting tone that seemed to crack reality – bubbles of darkness formed, popping more neo-shadows into the area.

Apparently, this Heartless wasn't above using minions to soften up its dinner. Riku launched forward once more, the world slowing to a crawl around him as he reached the wolf again and leapt up, slashing it across the face. Kicking off its nose, Riku back flipped and reached into his heart again for his twilight energy, forming it into bolts he launched right into the wound he'd just created as he fell.

The Heartless shook itself, the front of its face now oozing, and this time, it didn't allow Riku the chance to land before attacking. Throwing his weight into another flip, Riku dodged the first bite, but the second caught the edge of his shorts and ripped them. Getting a foot up, Riku planted it on the Heartless's canine nose and slashed even as he kicked off and back flipped again. Still, the Heartless came on and Riku's slash caught it on the nose once more and the boy realized belatedly that the nose wasn't a very good place to hack, it wasn't phasing the Heartless at all and at this rate, he was going to get chomped unless someone below realized the predicament he was in and distracted the Canine long enough for Riku to land and get away.

Unfortunately, Riku found as he kicked off the Canine's nose once more and flipped to dodge another snap of the Heartless's jaws, his allies were busy with the neo-shadows. Focusing his energy again, Riku shot another couple blasts of Twilight Heart energy into the Heartless's face. That didn't even make it pause for a second. Relentlessly, the Heartless snapped at Riku until a shouted spell from Aerith caught it off-guard and Riku had the chance to drop to the ground finally.

Again, the Canine dived at the ground like a dog chasing a mouse. Leaping backwards, but losing his balance, Riku wasn't fast enough to roll aside, the Heartless closed its teeth over his left arm, piercing flesh. Refusing to scream, Riku instead focused his energy into another set of blasts, sending it straight down the beast's throat.

This attack did some damage at last, and the Heartless released Riku- but only after lifting him off the ground by his arm and flinging him across the ravine. Releasing his Keyblade, Riku slammed hard face first against the rock of the wall just beneath a ledge, his hands automatically seeking something to cling to. Though his left hand was weak and wet with blood, Riku clutched the edge, scrambling with his feet to find some purchase. His attempts only sent rocks crumbling down, and Riku made the mistake of looking back over his shoulder to see just how high up he was.

"Yeah," he wheezed, squeezing his eyes shut, "Don't need to fall down that."

Gloved hands gripped his wrists and pulled.

Opening his eyes, then shutting them tightly in pain, Riku scrambled up over the side of the ledge with the stranger's help, then curled around his left arm for a moment, looking at the black ooze the Heartless had left in the wound. Imagining terrible things like getting gangrene and having to have his arm cut off, Riku wiped the ooze away with his fingers as best he could, then looked up at the one who had helped him, blinking as he found the silver haired gunman.

"Thanks," Riku said to the man that was crouched in front of him. They stared at each other, Riku unable to place the man's age, nor was he able to read any sort of expression or emotion on the man's face.

"Why do you fight with them?" the gunman asked softly.

"Because," Riku replied, "I want to." He looked back at the battle below, watching as the others took care of the neo-shadows. Yuffie was again, being chased by the Canine.

Looking back at the silver haired gunman, Riku finished, "It's the choice I made." Getting to his feet, he called his Keylbade back to his hand and turned, looking down over the edge of the ledge for a way to get back down. Ah, there were some outcroppings he could leap across. Of course, none were below where he'd originally landed. Looking back, he smirked slightly at the dumbfounded expression the gunman was wearing.

With a powerful leap, Riku started back down the nearly sheer cliff face and exploded back into the battle in a whirlwind that left nothing but smoke behind him, destroying the last of the neo-shadows. Joining Leon this time, the two men ran in- Riku ahead- to slash at the Canine's other back leg. This time, Aerith's casting of Ice caught their target and snapped the creature's leg.

Howling in agony, the Heartless sat down, finally immobilized.

Cid and Yuffie paired up, running side-by side, and as one, leapt aside as the Canine snapped at them while Leon and Riku came in from behind while the Heartless was distracted. Leaping onto its back, Leon stabbed his blade down into the Heartless's side, sliding it between the monster's ribs. Black ooze gushed from the wound as Leon pulled his blade free and leapt aside, the Canine having rolled, trying to crush its attacker. Riku followed up with another stab into the Heartless's stomach, which he braced and dragged in a long cut down its underside.

As the Heartless rolled again, Yuffie came in from the other side and cut several long gashes down the Heartless's back as it snapped at Riku. Cid dropped down from a Lancer jump and slammed his spear into the back of the Heartless's neck, bracing the spear with his feet. Pulling his spear free as the Canine shook itself, pushing up on it's front feet to snap at Leon as he ran past in front of it, firing shots from his gunblade.

"Ice!" Aerith shouted, freezing the Canine's mouth, which made it yelp and shake its head again. Like a cricket, Yuffie leapt out of the way of a giant paw that had been used in an attempt to smash her. Rolling away, she threw her shuriken and caught the Canine across the eyes.

Rearing back, the Heartless howled again and Riku came flashing in, Keyblade at the ready and slammed it into the Heartless's chest. A second later, Leon's gunblade joined his. Without even looking at each other, the two swordsmen changed their grip and shoved their blades in opposite directions, opening the Heartless's chest.

A flood of black ooze poured out, covering the ground.

"Meteor!" Aerith shouted, throwing her hands into the air, then pointing them towards the Heartless. The sky darkened briefly and several flaming rocks crashed into the Heartless as Leon and Riku cleared it.

With one final howl, the Heartless began dissipating into smoke, writhing on the ground in agony.

Stumbling to a stop, Riku braced himself on his Keyblade, watching as the black smoke roiled across the ground filling the ravine. Even though the Heartless monster was gone, Riku felt that there was still danger in the area and pushed himself upright to meet the challenge, peering through the smoke for the source. His efforts were futile.

_"You always were strongest of them all,"_ a voice from the smoke murmured, sending chills down Riku's spike as he stepped back into a fighting stance once more. _"The most dedicated..."_

Warned by a flash of light off something metallic from within the smoke of the dead Heartless, Riku blocked and braced his Keyblade with his left hand. Still, the force of the blow drove him back several feet, his heels leaving ruts in the dust. Instinctively blocking again, Riku heard the clash of a long sword off his Keyblade, then ducked a head-height swing and rolled away, putting some distance between himself and the attacker he couldn't see.

_"You dare defy me?" _hissed the cold calculating voice, and this time, Riku saw a flash of long silver hair before the attack came from his other side. Knocked off balance, he rolled with the blow and came to his feet again, touching his right shoulder as he felt warmth trickling down his arm.

Hissing a soft curse, Riku kept his eyes open for any sign of his attacker.

Blue-green eyes... Hauntingly familiar were staring him in the face.

_"You WILL bow to me."_

Pain lanced through his mind, like being stabbed through the skull by a spear. Dropping Road to Dawn, Riku ground his teeth, clutching his head as he sank to his knees. Tears stung his eyes, but he refused to cry, refused to call out. Gasping for breath between his teeth, Riku writhed and finally staggered to his feet again.

_"Yes..."_ the voice murmured, _"You always were the strongest. But I will have you."_

Fury fueled by pain gave volume to Riku's voice as he shouted, "I'll _NEVER_ be a puppet again!"

"Riku!"

A hand landed on his shoulder, and he gasped, toppling to his knees as he opened his eyes, finding that the smoke from the Heartless had completely cleared- and had possibly been gone for quite some time.

_'What... just happened?'_ he wondered, blinking slowly.

"Riku?" Aerith called his name again and he looked up at her finally. "Are you okay?" Keeling, she looked at his arm, then held her hands cupped over the oozing wound, green light flickering from her palms as she cast a healing spell. It didn't take long for the wound to close to nothing more than jagged pink lines and she smiled at him.

Picking up Road to Dawn, Riku send it back to wherever it went when he didn't need it and slowly climbed to his feet. "Yeah," he said slowly, rubbing his head. "Yeah. I'm fine. Thanks... Look, Aerith. I should get going. I've _got_ to find Sora."

She didn't look convinced, but nodded slowly. "Alright. Just keep your Light in sight and your path will never lead you astray."

Thoroughly confused, Riku silently watched as she turned and headed off towards Cid, Leon, and Yuffie. Without pausing, she looked over her shoulder and added with a smile, "Oh, and just up the hill at the gates is a place your ship should recognize as a spot to teleport from. Come back and visit again, okay?"

Riku simply nodded, remaining where he was for a moment longer to catch his breath as Yuffie bounced around with far too much energy for having just gone through a rather tough battle, "Hey!" she shouted. "Why isn't Riku coming?"

"He has to go find Sora," Aerith explained, "I'm sure we'll see him again." She cast a smile over her shoulder at him again.

"Damn kid makes me nervous," Cid grumped, huffing on his cigarette, "Too much like those other silver haired guys. Too damn many of them around these days!"

Leon didn't bother saying anything, just allowed the others to file past him up the path while he stood staring at Riku with his arms crossed. Narrowing his eyes, Riku frowned slightly. _'But dang that man looks like Sora in one of his worse moods...'_

Shaking his head, Leon turned away and headed after the others finally, leaving Riku to himself. Having finally caught his breath, he stepped forward, heading up the path. He could have walked with them, he supposed, but... he didn't feel like being questioned about his psychotic episode just a second ago.

Lost in thought he walked on autopilot, Riku blinked as he looked up to find himself at the gate to the town again. Stepping through and into Radiant Garden, he glanced around, finding no trace of Aerith or the others.

Thankfully, there was no trace of those two silver haired guys in black either. Closing his eyes, Riku called, "Teleport-" three pairs of tiny hands latched onto his hair, giggling, "-Me."

Opening his eyes, Riku reached back, "What the heck-" he managed to catch one, but the other two ducked aside. Hauling the squirming slender palm-full in front of him, Riku blinked as he found himself holding a little blonde girl dressed in a rather skimpy yellow and orange outfit.

"Let me _go_!" she shrieked, kicking and squirming in his hand- and finally latched her teeth into his finger, biting hard.

He'd had insect bites worse than that but the other two fairies that flew in to the rescue gave him reason to release the yellow one. "What the heck are you?" he asked, "And why did you just use my hair to hitch a ride?" he reached back, checking to see that they didn't cut any of it and was relieved to find that they hadn't.

The three fairies assembled, the blonde looking rumpled and offended, the black haired one just Punk Goth and silently brooding, the brunet in shades of blue floated forward, "We're the Gullwings!" she announced, as if that was supposed to mean something to him. When he just stared at her, she pouted.

"I'm Yuna!" she did a back flip and knelt in the air, posing with a pair of little guns.

The blonde, having fixed her outfit spun and posed on Yuna's right, "Rikku!" she pulled out a pair of circular blades, much like the ones Axel was proficient at using.

"Paine," the Goth fairy stated blandly, but posed on Yuna's left with her sword anyway.

"We're the Gullwings!" Yuna announced again.

Taking a breath and sighing, Riku stated, "Alright, and what are the Gullwings doing on my ship?"

Rikku flew forward, stopping just inches from his eyes and stated, "We're treasure hunters!"

Yuna flew forward then, clinging to Rikku, and Riku had a difficult time focusing on them both. "But there's no treasure on Radiant Garden!"

Rikku took up again, "So we decided to tag along with _you_ since you were going to go to other worlds anyway!"

Narrowing his eyes, the boy stated, "And when did you ask my permission?" he pointed out, which made Yuna pout cutely and Rikku scowl and Paine was wearing a look that told Riku plainly that if he even _thought_ about trying to throw them off his ship, he could forget the possibility of ever being able to breed.

Grinding his teeth, Riku stepped back, then around them, heading towards the pilot's seat. "Fine," he stated, "But only if you don't get in my way and you do what I tell you when I tell you."

Squealing with joy, Yuna and Rikku hugged each other and twirled in circles. "Okay!" they agreed.

Riku sighed. _'This... is going to be a mistake.'

* * *

_

_AN: hehe, weren't expecting 3 whole chapters of nuffin BUT Riku after his long absence, were you?_

_Next Chapter: Follow your nose, Riku! You'll find Sora eventually! ...maybe...? _


	42. The Trail of Scent

_Chapter 42_

_(The Trail of Scent)_

Sighing gustily, Riku lounged back in his chair after taking his stolen ship through the opened path of light. "Well," he said to himself, "It looks like Sora's here."

This was an assumption, not made on the fly, even though it had sounded like one to Yuna, Rikku, and Paine. In fact, Riku had pondered saying the comment for quite some time before he'd actually said it. However, his assumption had been made simply because after leaving Radiant Garden, Riku had found himself at a convergence of three paths. The path ahead was opened, but the path he'd just come through from Radiant Garden was not, and the other path to his right was closed.

"Who're you talking to?" Yuna asked, doing a flip and floating down in front of Riku's face, blocking his view of anything but her.

Irritated, he stared at her with half-lidded eyes. "Myself."

"Ohh, but that's a sign of insanity!" Rikku pointed out, gliding in from the right, darting around behind Yuna, and peering at Riku with a catty grin. "But that's alright, you're cute, so I can overlook that."

Really starting to lose his temper, Riku pointed out, "And you're six inches tall." Sitting forward, he loomed at the two fairy girls, and predictably, they shrank back, allowing Riku the room to stand. Heading over to the teleport pad, he stepped onto it, but paused as the fairies followed, floating over his shoulders and head. In fact, Rikku was flopped out across his head, Yuna perched on his right shoulder, and Paine standing on his left.

"I want to get one thing clear to you three," Riku stated, "I know what I'm doing when it comes to traveling worlds. So when I tell you to do something, you do it. Is that clear? I don't want any trouble with the natives."

Yuna leaned forward, looking around Riku's neck at Paine. Paine shrugged. They both looked up at Rikku – who had her chin propped on her hands, kicking her feet behind her, occasionally thumping Riku's head with her toes. "Rikku?" Yuna called.

"Yeah, yeah!" the blonde said, "I heard him. Alright!"

Smiling, Yuna nodded, "Okay, Riku. Hmm. This might get a little confusing," she mused.

"Well, _I'm_ not changing _my_ name," both Riku and Rikku said at the same moment.

Rikku and Yuna burst out laughing while Riku scowled, and stated, "Let's just go..."

Closing his eyes just before the flash of light went off, Riku opened them again to find himself standing in a cemetery.

"Eew," Rikku stated, clutching Riku's hair, "How creepy!" she finished, sitting up on his head, holding locks of his hair like he were some sort of pony.

Riku sighed, lifting a hand to finally brush her off his head and make her let go of his hair. Floating away from him, she blew a raspberry. Stepping forward, he came to an abrupt stop as he nearly toppled head first into an open grave. With a flail of his arms that had Paine and Yuna flittering off his shoulders, Yuna trying to help him by grabbing hold of the back of his shirt and pulling, Riku finally regained his balance and looked down, kneeling to peer into the opened grave.

The afternoon sunlight, filtered through the barren branches of the trees in the cemetery, shown down into the hole, displaying the rotting corpse in all his maggoty finery.

Cringing, Rikku ducked back around behind Riku's head, "That's so gross!"

Once again, the platinum-haired boy stood, "Not my business," he stated and hopped over the grave, walking across the dying leaves towards the cemetery gates, wondering where and how he might find Sora in this world.

Pushing the wrought iron gates open, Riku stepped out onto the sidewalk and paused before finally picking a direction and starting off.

* * *

It was rather odd, Riku thought as he strolled down the street.

The sun had risen high in the sky, and sure, it may have been a Sunday or something, but that didn't explain why there was _no one_ in sight as he walked down the middle of what had to be the main road in town. All the cars were parked, some crashed wildly into light poles or other cars, there was glass on the streets and a familiar smell filled the air... Riku had always had a rather highly developed sense of smell, and right now, the air reeked of drying blood and rotting corpses. He didn't say anything since Yuna, Rikku, and Paine didn't seem to notice, Yuna especially didn't seem like the type to be able to handle that kind of thing.

"Gee..." Rikku commented as she floated alongside the boy, "Where _is_ everyone?"

Shaking his head slightly, Riku replied, "I don't know." And that, honestly, was all he could say as he looked around the deserted street, lined with nice relatively new sidewalks, the buildings were in good repair but the doors were closed and locked, shop windows were dark.

Yuna shivered, "Something's wrong here," she commented. "It feels almost like... like..."

"Fiend," Pain supplied when Yuna's attempts to find the right word had failed.

Riku paused, "Fiend- I've heard that term before," he looked around, frowning, "Something about the souls of the dead becoming monsters, right?"

Darting around in front of him, Rikku hovered right at eye-level, hands clasped in fists as she leaned forward excitedly, "Yeah!" she announced, "Where'd you hear that? We haven't seen any Fiends since _our_ world got destroyed!"

Frowning slightly, he answered truthfully, "I heard it on the world I'd landed on briefly before going to Radiant Garden."

This news caught Yuna's attention and she came around to face him so quickly that she nearly crashed into Rikku, "You were there?" she gasped, "Oh- please, when we find the Treasure we're looking for, will you take us back there? Please! Everyone is probably very worried about me by now, and... there was someone I'm trying to find."

Looking away briefly, Riku frowned as he tried to recall something he'd heard... "High Summoner Yuna," he stated finally as he remembered what he'd overheard some old ladies talking about while he'd wandered the huge mecha city called Lucca. Looking back towards Yuna, Riku cocked his head to the side and asked, "You're High Summoner Yuna?"

Blushing, Yuna turned away slightly, then peeked back at him, "Yeah," she admitted, "But I sent all the Fayth, so there are no Summoners anymore. The title is just honorary now."

Rikku sighed, throwing her hands into the air, "Don't listen to Her Humblness here! We saved the world! We deserve a little respect!" Turning, she threw her arms around Yuna from behind, hugging tightly, "Especially Yunie! She was great!"

Automatically, Riku glanced around to make sure of their location. The air just seemed to be crawling and the scent of blood and rot was really getting to him. "Who're you looking for?" Riku asked, recalling that she'd said something about that.

Flushing, Yuna put her hands over her face as the girl in yellow - still hugging her - announced, "She's looking for her boyfriend, Tidus!"

Shocked, Riku recoiled, "_What_! You're dating _that_ moron!"

Silence fell as Yuna and Rikku turned to stare at him in the most unnerving manner.

Paine finally joined the conversation by floating around into view, "You never answered. Will you take us home when we're restored?"

Blinking at her, Riku looked her over slowly, "Restored?"

"It's the Treasure we're looking for!" Rikku supplied, "We want to... well..."

Yuna smiled, her long braid of hair swinging behind her as she swayed from side to side, "Well, you see, flying is nice and all, but I'd like to be back to normal... So please, will you help us, Riku?"

With a sigh, Riku pinched the bridge of his nose briefly, then dropped his hand, "Alright," he agreed finally.

Darting forward suddenly, Rikku grabbed his bangs, pulling them up out of his eyes and demanded, "Now! Tell us how you know Tidus!"

"I grew up with him," Riku replied, "Him, Wakka, Selphie, Kairi, Sora, and me all play on the-" He stepped back, trying to put a little distance between himself and the girl, it was difficult to see her.

"_Wakka_!" Rikku shrieked, "You know Wakka too! What about Lulu?"

Backing up wasn't doing any good and Riku was about to resort to grabbing her to make her let go of his hair. "Lulu's a girl in school, how do _you_ know them?"

"They come from _our_ world!" Yuna replied, "I grew up in Besaid with them. Do you know anyone named Chappu?"

"...no?" Riku admitted, "who is he?"

"Wakka's little brother," Yuna replied.

Finally resorting to more forceful measures, Riku grabbed Rikku, but she in turn refused to let go of his hair and ended up pulling out a few strands as his greater strength won the battle. "Get out of my face," he told her and released her. "As for Wakka, Tidus is his little brother."

Irritated, but not for long, Rikku turned to face Yuna, lifting her hands from which several strands of long silver bangs hung, like prizes, "Huh. Maybe it's not the same ones we knew?" she offered.

Unnerved by Yuna's resembliance to Kairi as the High Summoner Fairy looked down and away, Riku stated, "Look, they've always been a bit... weird, talking about things that don't seem to exist and all." It was a rather lame comment, for Riku had no idea how the difference of time could possibly be explained, since apparently Wakka, Tidus, and Lulu had gotten to have two childhoods. Luky jerks.

Paine again spoke up, "Are you offering to take us to meet them?" she asked, and will you help us restore ourselves?"

"Gyah!" Riku shouted, scrubbing his hands in his hair in frustration, "Yes, fine! Can we get moving, though?" He was confused beyond the acceptable limits, he needed to find Sora, and now, he was supposed to help three fairies find some 'treasure' that would make them human again and take them to meet some of his classmates. It was too much at the moment.

The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as the scent in the air changed.

In the distance, someone screamed, and Riku was immediately running towards the sound.

Down the street he ran, heading towards the center of town. Ahead, the road was blocked, but Riku easily leapt over the wrecked car and landed in town square.

Lifting his eyes, Riku stared upon the large monster that stood in the center of the square amidst the already cracked and blasted pavement. It was about twelve feet tall with thorny tentacles, a huge mouth, and what appeared to be a leaf skirt around it's wide middle, it was shaped like a gumdrop with stumpy legs. This was apparently where the most blood had been shed- in fact, Riku sniffed, "Sora was here," he stated, recognizing the scent of Sora's blood... a hell of a lot of it, in fact.

"A Fiend!" Rikku announced as she zipped by over Rikku's head.

"Lord Ochu!" Yuna gasped as she caught up. She, however, didn't go flying straight towards the monster, instead, she stopped, floating down to Riku as Paine followed the fairy in yellow. "Riku, Ochu are susceptible to fire, they'll poison you as well, watch out."

Nodding, he stood, pushing his hair back over his shoulder as he looked around to find the source of the shriek.

A little red-headed girl was sprawled on the ground not far away, and Riku headed towards her first, "Yuna," he stated, "You any good at healing?"

Following him while keeping an eye on Rikku and Paine, who were buzzing the Ochu and keeping it distracted, Yuna nodded, "I can do that still. Oh, I wish we hadn't lost our dressphere grids!"

Riku kneeled and turned the redheaded girl over, Yuna landing beside the girl's head, "You help Rikku and Paine," she told him.

With a nod, Rikku stood and turned, calling his Keyblade in mid stride, but he paused, "...Materia," he stated, recalling the object Aerith had given him. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the slightly glowing green orb that fit in the palm of his hand. "How do I use it?" he wondered as he stared at the object, eyes narrowing as he realized that it was the same green as Aerith's eyes... and his mother's.

All else disappeared into the distance as he stared at the Materia he held in his palm.

"Riku!" the fairy in yellow shrieked at him as the Ochu swung it's tentacles, trying to catch the annoying pests that were giving it paper cuts, "Help us, you doofus!"

Shocked, he looked up, then down again, and though he wasn't sure why he knew it to be the right thing to do, Riku pressed the orb of Materia against the wrist of his right hand. It was a very strange sensation, and very odd to watch. The Materia seemed to melt, sinking into the flesh of his wrist and disappearing, though it retained a soft green glow. Flexing the fingers of that hand, he decided it wasn't going to impede his fighting abilities. Turning, he lifted his hand high and slashed down, "Fire!"

The explosion of fire lit up beneath the Ochu, making it dance in pain.

Pleased with the results of his first try at using Materia, Riku darted forward, narrowing his eyes on the monster, _'Fiend,'_ he corrected mentally. Not that it mattered either way. It was going down!

The scenery around him blurred as he ran, then leapt upwards with a slash of his Keyblade.

In retaliation, a tentacle swung around, catching Riku across the stomach and sending him flying. Breath knocked out, he threw himself into a back-flip and landed on his feet in a crouch, clutching his middle with a hand. Taking a breath, he shouted, "Fire!" and the Fiend writhed in pain again.

"Woo!" Rikku shouted happily, "Fire him up, Riku!" she commanded excitedly and darted away as Ochu swung a tentacle around to try to catch her. She dodged under it and came back around, slamming her circular blade into the Fiend's face.

Trying to stand, Riku stumbled, falling to one knee once more as he clutched his stomach, feeling suddenly very ill. "Poisoned," he muttered and added a soft curse under his breath as he tried to keep the tea he'd had earlier down. Pushing himself to his feet, Riku clenched his teeth and swallowed hard before pushing himself to get moving.

Determined, Riku narrowed his eyes on his goal, dodging under a swinging tentacle as Ochu tried to bat him away again and stabbed at the plant-monster's middle hard enough to sink his blade in nearly to the hilt. Jerking his Keyblade sideways, Riku left a gaping hole in the Fiend's side and quickly escaped as Ochu roared, flailing its tentacles and stomping the ground hard enough to crack the pavement further.

"Fire!" another voice called and Riku rolled aside as the ball of fire went over his head.

"Riku!" Yuna called and as he stood once more, she landed on his shoulder, "Esuna!" she cast on him.

Balance steadying immediately, Riku straightened, "Thanks," he said, then looked back at the redheaded girl as she threw another ball of fire at the Ochu. Taking a breath, Riku left Yuna behind as he darted forward again, intending to deliver some more hurt to this annoying creature.

Ducking under one tentacle and leaping another, Riku landed and lunged forward, slamming his Keyblade into the Ochu's other side. Taking firm hold of the hilt in both hands, Riku ran, ripping a long gash in the Fiend's side as the redhead threw another ball of fire.

In an ear-piercing shriek, the Ochu's form exploded into small balls of white light that floated away in all directions, one passing through Riku's chest, giving him a cold chill. Lowering his blade, he turned to look at the redhead girl, gaze traveling over her slowly. She was about eight or so, red hair down to her mid back in curls, brown eyes, pale skin, wearing a tee-shirt, blue jeans, and denim jacket.

Taking a breath, Riku prepared to ask his question.

"Who're you?" the girl demanded, cutting him off.

Thoughts derailed, Riku started to answer, but again, he was cut off, this time by Yuna, "We're the Gullwings! I'm Yuna!" she did a flip and posed.

"Rikku!" the fairy in yellow announced, zipping over to join the brunet girl.

"Paine," the Goth fairy stated blandly as if she weren't having the least bit of fun at all.

_'She's just like Lulu actually...'_ Riku thought, eyeing Paine, _'Pretends she's not having any fun at things, but shows up anyway. Especially to Wakka and Tidus's blitzball games.'_

Rolling his eyes, Riku stalked over, "I'm looking for a brunet about this tall," he held his hand up, "Blue eyes, bi-polar with no self-preservation instincts, and wields a sword that looks like a key."

The girl stared, "You talking about Sora or Aros?"

Riku blinked at her, "...Sora," he stated finally, "Which way did he go?"

Looking around, the girl frowned, "I don't know," she admitted, "Aros grabbed Dagger and Laguna and disappeared, and then Sora left with a dog-man, pantless talking duck, and a giant blue cat with a broken horn."

It was just... too funny. As one, Rikku and Yuna exchanged looks and started laughing. Riku had to look away briefly, covering his mouth with a hand as he started sniggering, "Put like that, his friends really _are_ weird," he admitted, _'Never mind the fact that I'm his friend TOO.'_ Clearing his throat, Riku continued, "Yes, that's the Sora I'm looking for, where did he go from here? And who is Aros?"

Shrugging, the girl turned away, "I don't know where that jerk went!" she folded her arms on her chest, tipping her nose into the air, "But he sure did leave a mess! I've been trying to clean up the Heartless all morning!"

Having finally calmed down, Yuna floated over, "The monsters attacking now aren't Heartless," she explained, "They're Fiends, made from the souls of the dead who haven't been Sent."

The girl turned to look at Yuna, eyes wide, "What's the difference then?"

"Well," Yuna said, "Anyone can kill Fiends, but Heartless require special weapons to kill."

"Or a strong heart!" Rikku put in, flying up to latch onto Yuna again, hugging the brunet from behind and peering over the girl's shoulder.

Taking a breath and sighing, Riku stated, "Simple sticks won't do anything to Heartless, though." With a shake of his head and flick of his fingers, Riku stated, "Do you know anyone who might know where Sora went, though? And _who_ is Aros?"

"Oh! Max might know!" the girl replied and turned, running off, "this way!" she said excitedly and with little choice, Riku followed, irritated that he'd had to ask that last question twice and _still_ hadn't gotten an answer.

_'I'll take this up with her once we get to wherever Max is,'_ Riku decided, jogging after the girl.

Over her shoulder, the girl called, "Oh, by the way, I'm Dani! Who were you?"

"Riku."

She eyed him, "I thought _she_ was Riku," Dani pointed at Rikku.

"It's a common name," Rikku replied with a giggle, "You can call me Riri if you want!"

* * *

Their destination was a slightly destroyed house in a nice neighborhood. It was one of the few places in town that was relatively untouched. At least structurally. The smell of blood was still in the air, making Riku feel sick all over again and wonder if he wasn't still poisoned.

Leading the way up the stairs to the white house's porch, Dani slammed open the front door and jogged across the living room to a flight of stairs. "_MAX!"_ Dani screamed up the stairs over the loud drumming. When there was no answer, she looked towards Riku and gestured for him to follow as she thumped up the stairs.

Sighing, the silver haired young man headed after her, "Girls," he said as he heard the chattering of his three fairy companions. "Girls!" he snapped when he got no answer, and finally turned around to look at the three who were contemplating the value of a hula lamp in the corner of the living room. Stalking back over to them, he plucked Rikku from the air- since she seemed to be the most rabid of the treasure hunters. "No stealing," he told her, then looked towards the other two. Yuna pouted at him cutely and Paine sulked.

Flailing desperately, Rikku kicked and spun from Riku's hold on her scarf, "Let me _go_!" she shrieked. Ignoring her, the silver haired boy headed up the stairs once more, finding Dani waiting at the top of the stairs. This time, Yuna and Paine demurely followed behind him, keeping their sticky fingers to themselves.

"I already told you three that I'd help you find that thing that will restore you, but I don't think it's shaped like a lamp," Riku stated blandly.

With a snigger, Dani headed to the end of the hall and stopped at the door there, lifting a hand to bang on it, "_MAX!_" she shrieked again.

The drumming abruptly stopped and a few seconds later, the door opened, a tall brunet in street clothes standing there. "Max," Dani said more calmly and gestured back at their guest. "This is Riku, he's a friend of Sora's. The fairies are Yuna, Riri, and Paine," of course, since they were introduced, the fairies had to do their obligatory pose, and Riku released his captive, figuring she'd finally decided to behave.

"Y!" Yuna called, posing.

"R!" Rikku chirped.

"P." Paine murmured in a dour voice, but still posed with the others, giving lie to her anti-social appearance.

Max blinked, and blinked again. "Ah... okay... Why're you here?"

"We're looking for _treasure_!" Yuna announced, "Have you got any?"

Riku sighed and shook his head, "You don't have to give them anything. They're kleptomaniacs. I'm looking for Sora. I can tell he was here by the amount of damage left behind, but where did he go from here?"

For a moment, Max paused, then started to shake his head, "Dani," he turned towards his little sister, "Where did you find these guys?"

"Out in the square," she admitted.

His reaction was immediate panic, "Dani! You know it's dangerous! I told you not to go anywhere!"

"Well you wouldn't come with me!" Dani shot back.

Stepping into the brewing fight, Riku stated, "Look, chew her out later when I don't have to listen to it. Just answer my question: where did Sora go from here?"

Irritated, it took Max a moment of glaring alternately at Dani and Riku before finally stating, "After Aros left, he said something about going to a castle... uh. Dizzy Knee Castle?"

"Disney," Riku corrected and Max nodded. For what he hoped would be the last time, Riku asked, "Alright. Who's Aros?"

This time, Dani actually answered, bouncing up and down on her toes as the words tumbled out at a rate that was nearly indecipherable, "She's a girl Sora's trying to capture, and she looks just like him, and she thinks he's mad at her, but he says he isn't and for some reason, after they defeated the witches together, Sora let her go and then he shot a keyhole in the sky with his Keyblade and Aros shot a keyhole that was on the gate, and Sora said it was something like a World Heart that she'd locked and he unlocked a path or something, and they all disappeared in a flash of light!"

Riku blinked. "...Could you go over that again?" All he'd caught out of that was Keyblade, Keyhole, Gate, and the announcement of the 'Flash of Light' there at the end.

"Tch! Riku! You're pathetic," Rikku announced, floating into his face to repeat in a slightly slower rate, "She said Aros is a girl that looks like Sora that Sora's after because he wants to set her straight on whether he's mad at her or not and after the battle they unlocked the path of light and sealed this world's heart and Sora went to Disney Castle and Aros went somewhere else!"

"Exactly!" Dani chirped happily. "Wait right here!" she gasped and turned, running back down the hall and slammed a door open. A moment later, she came running back out, "_MAX_!" she gasped, "Max, it's _gone_! The book is gone!"

Shocked, Max stumbled forward, shoving past Riku and stepped into Dani's room. "What do you mean it's gone?"

Following him into her room, Dani replied, "I put the book there in the bottom drawer of my dresser- I haven't taken it out since putting it there this morning but it's _gone_ Max!"

Immediately, Riku looked at the Gullwings and Rikku waved her hands, "We haven't taken _anything_!" the girl objected.

Dani returned moments later, breathless, "If you catch up to Sora or Aros," she said, "Tell them that Winifred's book is _gone_!"

Riku nodded, figuring this was something that likely only Sora or Aros would understand. "Alright. I'd better get going though, before Sora runs off again."

For a long moment, the girl stared at him, "You're sure that _anyone_ can kill those monsters that are attacking us? What about the Heartless?"

"Your magic will work on the Heartless," Riku stated.

Yuna took up answering the other question, "Anyone who can fight can kill the Fiends," she agreed, "You'll do fine, I'm sure!"

* * *

_AN: sorry if this chapter was a little flat, I was having trouble writing it. It's a good thing I got it done in time at all! O.o;_

_Next Chapter: Goodbyes aren't forever, and Mister Magini OWNZ YOUR SOUL!_


	43. Letting Go

_Chapter 43 _

_(Letting Go)_

Flexing her fingers, Kaiyou frowned at the screen.

Two doors.

Two paths she could possibly take and no idea which one would lead her to the world she wanted.

"Innie Meanie Minie Moe..." she muttered to herself.

"What's that?" Dagger asked, leaning closer in an effort to hear Kaiyou where she sat in the chair on Kaiyou's right. Laguna had taken the seat to the left, and had his ankle resting on the other knee while he sipped his second cup of coffee, his hair still damp from his shower.

Looking towards the other girl, Kaiyou shrugged, "Picking a path," she pointed ahead, bouncing her finger from one door to the other, "Innie Meanie Minie Moe, catch a tiger by its toe..."

"Wouldn't that be interesting," Laguna put in, lowering his cup long enough to speak.

After casting a frown at him, Kaiyou continued, "If it hollers let it go, Innie Meanie Minie Moe." Triumphantly, Kaiyou grinned, "It's the path to the right then!" With that, she turned the ship left.

"Wait-" Dagger blinked, "You just said..."

"Yes, but I've always sucked at randomly choosing things, it's always the wrong choice, so I'm choosing to go opposite of what I chose. It's got more of a chance of being correct than my original choice."

Quirking a brow and shaking his head, the mage stated, "That doesn't make the least bit of sense, you know that?"

"Hey," she objected, "You don't know my luck like I do. Stuff it!"

Laughing, he chugged the rest of his coffee and remained silent as Kaiyou brought them to the door and punched through it.

"I love this part!" Kaiyou announced cheerfully as they shot through the light and into the strange spaces beyond.

"_AHHG!"_ Laguna shrieked as the light cleared and immediately, Kaiyou slammed the joystick forward as they appeared directly in front of an asteroid.

Clutching the arms of her chair, Dagger braced her self against the desk with her knees, wearing an expression that made Kaiyou laugh. She looked like she was giving birth to kittens. Turning her attention back towards the battle, she was just in time to see five bubbles of darkness pop, producing space ships with Heartless symbols on them.

_'Ahaha! I'm a Heartless Pirate Blasting Wiz!'_ she thought gleefully as she pulled the triggers, blowing up their enemies. Abruptly, she spun them sideways to avoid a spire of rock jutting out from the side of the giant asteroid. Unnerved by the angle, Kaiyou oriented them with the asteroid, putting it below them and all of the green-blue-black swirling space above.

On her screen, red arrows blinked at her, warning that there were enemies surrounding her from behind. Reaching over, Kaiyou slapped the button that would launch their rearguard missiles and hit the thruster briefly to get their tail away from the resulting explosions. Ahead, in the distance, she could make out the white light that was the exit from this strange pocket of space, and aimed towards that, leaving the asteroid they'd skimmed behind.

More asteroids filled this Spacescape, and Kaiyou avoided the large ones but destroyed the smaller along with any Heartless that got in her way.

From below them, a blast of bright red energy exploded upwards and Kaiyou yelped as the ship jerked, having been clipped by the blast. Dodging aside as the next blast came, she slammed the boost lever forward as another flash of light and pillar of red energy blasted upwards in front of them.

Narrowly dodging it this time, Kaiyou hit the thrusters again and jerked the joystick to the left, around another column of energy.

"What is that shooting at us?" Dagger called.

All Kaiyou could answer was, "I don't know! But we're almost to the end! We just have to hold out a little longer!"

Heartless appeared in front of them then as the flash preceding another column of energy burst upwards and Kaiyou just didn't have the hands free to do more than shoot torpedoes at them as she dodged to the right again, skirting the edge of the column of energy. More Heartless appeared, some getting caught in the next flash of an attack from below, but the rest were blocking Kaiyou's escape to the left. Instead, she dived downwards, finding a long cylindrical ship hovering below them, studded with hundreds of circular openings. Even as she watched, one of the holes lit up and a blast of energy bust from it. Shrieking, Dagger clutched her chair as they took a direct hit.

Alarms started going off and Kaiyou leveled them out, hitting the thrusters and holding them as the shots from the cannons below blasted up around them randomly, making it hard for her to dodge. They got clipped again, damaging thruster output, but she continued to hold it. The only good thing about the cannons was that they were clearing the asteroids from Kaiyou's path.

At last, they reached the end and Kaiyou released the controls, letting momentum take them forward as she pulled out her Keyblade, aiming it towards the giant keyhole. In a flash of light, they were through, and Kaiyou fell back into her seat, listening to the shrieking alarms. "Great, the ship's trashed," she sighed, "How am I gonna get it fixed out here?"

"Don't worry, Gummi Ships are self-healing if you leave them alone for a while," Laguna replied, checking over systems and shutting off the alarms one by one. "However, I think this will take a bit longer to heal than usual," he sat back with a sigh, then looked towards her, putting on a smile. "Don't worry about it, though. You got us through and that's what counts."

Suddenly, Dagger gasped, "Kaiyou!" she slapped her hands on the desk in front of her and leaned forward in excitement, then turned, "Kaiyou, you did it!"

_'I did it?'_ Kaiyou thought, blinking stupidly at the princess, unable to comprehend what she meant.

"I'm home!" She jabbed a finger at the world that floated in the strange reaches of space, "I'm home in time for my coronation!" Dagger announced and turned to throw her arms around Kaiyou in an overjoyed hug. Blushing darkly to the roots of her hair, Kaiyou flailed to free herself from Dagger's cleavage and gasped for air once the princess released her in favor of spinning around the room. Embarrassed, Kaiyou glanced towards Laguna- only to find him grinning at her.

Reaching over, the mage fluffed her hair, "Good job, Kaiyou," he said as Dagger continued bouncing around the cabin, dancing in joy.

_'Umi- I- I did it... –I- did it! In my own name! Not Sora's, not as Aros. I succeeded!'_ Kaiyou gushed at her other voice as the realization hit her.

Umi sent the feeling of a cool smile. It wasn't patronizing, it was just the best she could do, _'You did well, Ki'you,'_ the voice in Kaiyou's head agreed.

Taking the ship in to an orbit around the world, Kaiyou set it on auto pilot and stood, heading towards the teleport pad, "Let's get you to your palace then," she suggested, "So that you won't worry Sir Steiner and Beatrix any longer?"

Dagger abruptly stopped twirling, her hands coming in to clasp together as she turned to look at Kaiyou, "Oh-" she said softly, eyes wide, "Kaiyou," stepping forward onto the pad, the princess smiled sadly, "We're going to have to split up once we're in Alexandria- you see... They're probably scouring the city for me and everyone will likely be upset." Placing her hands on Kaiyou's shoulders, Dagger looked into the other girl's eyes, "Please don't take this wrong, Kaiyou. I just don't want Sir Steiner to get the wrong idea. He overreacts about things and if we're found together, he'll assume you were the one who _kidnapped_ me instead of being the one who saved me!"

"Does he not listen to you?" Kaiyou asked, eyes wide.

Sighing, Dagger shook her head, "Not when my safety is involved. He's very loyal and I understand why he gets so worried about me, but sometimes, he assumes things and doesn't stop to think till the situation is out of control. Beatrix would listen, but Steiner's squads are probably the ones looking for me. Beatrix's troops guard the castle."

Thinking on that for a long moment, Kaiyou took a breath, then nodded. "Alright," she agreed finally, then looked over to see Laguna standing on the pad beside them. "Ready?" she asked him and he nodded. Closing her eyes, she ordered the ship to teleport them.

Once the light flashed past her eyelids, Kaiyou opened her eyes again, looking down at Dagger, who still stood with her hands on Kaiyou's shoulders. They were standing in an empty back alley, the buildings on either side built of stone, the roofs made of wooden shingles. In the distance, a partially ruined castle stood overlooking the city. Kaiyou and Dagger gazed at it for a long moment, the princess squinting, "Is that music I hear?" Laguna asked.

Dagger nodded, "And the castle is decorated," she said softly, "I think... I think they either don't know I've been missing, or they didn't tell the town, hoping to find me before my coronation?" Looking towards Kaiyou, then at Laguna, Dagger licked her lips nervously.

Clearing his throat, Laguna looked from Dagger to Kaiyou then announced, "Hey! What a _pretty_ flower, I'm going to go over here and look at it!" with that, he spun around and tottered off to the mouth of the alley, out of hearing range.

Sighing, Kaiyou looked after the mage and muttered, "Could he be any _more_ _obvious_?"

Dagger stepped back finally and giggled behind her hand, "He's being polite in his own way," she said, patting Kaiyou's arm, then took her hand and pulled her further away from Laguna. Silence fell between them for a long time, Kaiyou unable to speak, Dagger unwilling to say what she knew she had to.

The silence quickly grew painful and as one, they turned towards each other, "Kaiyou-" Dagger started,

"Garnet..." snapping her teeth closed, Kaiyou blushed and looked aside, "Go on."

Pausing, Dagger looked up at Kaiyou's face and finally sighed, "I hate goodbyes."

"I should be used to them by now," Kaiyou muttered.

Head tipping slightly, Dagger leaned in, "Kaiyou- don't look like that..."

Lifting her eyes, Kaiyou met the princess's brown-eyed gaze. "I can't help it," she admitted, "I- I put you in danger, Gary will never let you go. We got too close. I shouldn't have let you get so close."

Pressing a finger to Kaiyou's lips, Dagger smiled, "You're not telling the whole truth again," she said, calling Kaiyou on her garbage. "What you mean is that you regret letting me so close because you're afraid of the pain of parting."

Gaze dropping, Kaiyou could no longer stand looking at Dagger's face, knowing that the princess had read her like an open book. "Promise me," Dagger said, lifting Kaiyou's chin with her fingers, "Promise that you'll always remember me and keep me here," lowering her hand from Kaiyou's chin, she pressed it to the other girl's heart, "That way, no matter how far away from each other we are, we'll always be together."

Closing her eyes, Kaiyou tried to hold back her tears. Taking a breath, she said in a broken whisper, "I promise," even though it hurt. "Promise me something in return, though?" Dagger nodded immediately and Kaiyou hesitated, "Promise... that no matter what you find out about me later... you'll still think of me as your friend?"

Dagger smiled slightly, "I promise."

Kaiyou looked away, _'That was unfair of me. __Gary will find her... Gary will tell her that I'm really a girl and then she'll hate me for lying.' _

_'You're being overdramatic, Kaiyou,'_ Umi replied, _'Give her a little more credit than that.' _

_'So you approve of this one?'_ Kaiyou kept her snort to herself.

Reluctantly, Umi replied, _'I approve of her.' _

Turning her attention back towards Dagger, Kaiyou picked up the conversation again, "You should go... Find Sir Steiner and Beatrix and hide. I wasn't lying when I said Gary won't let you go. Hide from him as best you can."

Though she nodded, Dagger didn't step away. Instead, she stepped in, sliding her arms around Kaiyou's waist and laid her head against the slightly taller girl's shoulder. "I'm not letting go till you smile for me," Dagger insisted.

"I can't."

"You're lying again," Dagger laughed softly. "This isn't a Goodbye Forever. You promised that I'd always be in your heart."

Pressing her lips together, Kaiyou shook her head, "Please go," she whispered, refusing to lift her hands and hug Dagger in return. The pain was growing unbearable as she stood there. Her hold on her tears slipping.

Drawing back, Dagger looked at her face. "I bet you're ticklish."

Twitching, Kaiyou tried to step away but Dagger was faster and able to locate Kaiyou's vulnerable spots in a matter of seconds. Staggering backwards, the girl tried to hold back her laughter, and finally thumping her back against a wall, started laughing, curling up around Dagger. "You're so mean to me," she accused, tears cascading from her hold as she put her arms around Dagger's shoulders.

"It's tough love," Dagger said, echoing Umi's favorite statement.

"I thought you said we were just friends," Kaiyou replied, struck to the heart by Dagger's flippant reply.

Moving back to look at Kaiyou's face again, Dagger lifted her hands to wipe at the flood of tears the other girl couldn't stop, "Friends can love each other too," she said and smiled. "It's a different kind of love, but love all the same."

"Different kind..." Kaiyou repeated softly, heart both warmed and aching at the same time, "Alright."

"Smile for me," Dagger insisted, "I can't go till you smile for me."

Pulling her lips towards a smile, Kaiyou offered that, but Dagger shook her head and Kaiyou looked away briefly before she tried again. Wrinkling her nose, Dagger emphatically shook her head at Kaiyou's second try, "That was terrible."

"Sorry... it's the smile I give for pictures," Kaiyou sighed.

Looking at Kaiyou's face, Dagger suggested gently, "Why don't you try smiling from here," she poked Kaiyou's chest.

_"I'll teach you how to smile. It's easy, once you know how to do it from the heart..." _

Thoughtfully, Kaiyou gazed at Dagger then finally reached for her heart, pushing past the pain to the warmth and grasped it fully. Lifting her gaze, Kaiyou made another try.

Dagger's breath caught, eyes widening.

"I did it again, didn't I?" Kaiyou looked aside, disgusted at herself. She couldn't even smile right.

Hands cupping the girl's face, Dagger turned Kaiyou's head, "No, Kaiyou- that was beautiful," the princess insisted, tears in her eyes. "Now that I've seen you really smile, I know that everything else was just fake." Kaiyou tried to draw back but the wall prevented her. "No- Kaiyou, what I mean is... you should smile like that more often. You're a very good person beneath that gruff façade you put on- thank you for letting me see the real you. No matter what Gary says, you're a wonderful person." Standing on her toes, Dagger leaned in and kissed Kaiyou's cheek lightly, "Remember your promise."

Forcing her fingers to release Dagger as the princess stepped back, Kaiyou watched her back up another step. If the wall hadn't been there, she feared she would have fallen over. She knew she'd lost the battle with her tears again, but couldn't even blink to clear the blurriness as Dagger finally turned away and started walking, heading past Laguna.

Clutching the wall behind her, Kaiyou could only stand there. Before turning the corner, Dagger looked back and smiled with a little wave. Unable to help herself, Kaiyou smiled again, even if watching Dagger walk around the corner and out of her life hurt bad enough to make her feel sick to her stomach.

_'Umi! Take the pain away! I can't bear it!'_ Kaiyou begged, sliding down the wall to sit on her heels, head down.

_'Already breaking your promise?'_ Umi retorted, _'You're dwelling on the negative. Look again, she's still with us.' _

Opening her eyes, Kaiyou took a breath, lifting her hands, one to her face the other to her necklace. Wiping her eyes, she took another breath, collecting the pieces of her composure and putting them back together as she took stock of the remaining piece of her heart. No... it wasn't broken. It was like the pain of a numb hand waking up.

_'Is that why it hurts? I'm finally starting to live again?'_ Kaiyou asked.

Umi replied gently, _'Yes. But she can't make you whole. Only Sora can.' _

_'Why do you say that?'_ Kaiyou asked.

Sadly, Umi didn't have an answer for this, instead, she just said, _'It's just something I know. The Why resides in the first piece of your heart you removed- the one that gave birth to me. All I know is that only Sora can put that piece back.' _

"Kaiyou?"

Taking a breath, Kaiyou lifted her head to look up at Laguna. For once, the man wore a serious expression. Crouching in front of her, he said, "You know... as long as you remember her, she's not really gone."

Gaze drawn towards the road Dagger had taken, Kaiyou couldn't help but smile again as warmth flashed through her heart, "That's what she said," the girl admitted, then looked towards Laguna to find him wearing a stricken expression. "What?"

"I- ah..." Clearing his throat behind his fist, Laguna finally gathered his wits and answered truthfully, "I guess I'd just never seen you really smile before." He smiled at her, "You should do it more often."

Snorting, Kaiyou replied, actually amused at him despite the pain of parting with her first real friend, "Funny, she said that too." Putting her hands on her knees, Kaiyou pushed herself to her feet and offered a hand down to Laguna, "You ready, Laguna?"

Green eyes wide, the mage stared up at her, struck dumb, and Kaiyou blinked, realizing that she'd actually used his name. Grinning, Laguna grasped her hand and pulled himself up by it, "Sure! Let's check out the town!"

Nodding with a slight blush, Kaiyou stepped past the man, heading off the opposite direction Dagger had taken, feeling a lot happier than she'd been in a while. "Yeah," she agreed, "That sounds like fun."

* * *

"Oh! Check that out!" Laguna said, pointing as he hauled Kaiyou over to an awning where a crowd of people were already standing. 

"Step right up! Step right up and witness the amazing feats of Mister _MAGINI_!"

Slipping towards the front of the crowd, Laguna pulled Kaiyou in front of him where she could see- and what she saw was, of all things, three brawny triplets of identical appearance wearing identical red and yellow striped pants and short vests, flexing their massive muscles in identical poses accompanied by an outrageously dressed dwarf. The dwarf announcer was a short man with a large beak-like nose poking out from beneath a top hat that was nearly the same height as he. Dramatically, he pulled a large egg from the cuff of his sleeve and hurried forward, grabbing Kaiyou's hand and slapped the egg into her palm with enough force to crack it.

Yelping, she was about to object when he released her hand, revealing a lack of gooey mess. Instead, a small yellow canary burst from the shards and shook itself off. "It's a bird, right?" the man asked.

"Uh- yeah-" she agreed, watching as the creature started preening, then nibbled at Kaiyou's fingers.

"You're _sure_ it's a bird?" the man, who was perhaps three and a half feet tall, leered up at her. His absurdly large hand covered hers once more and when he stepped back, she was holding a large spider that took up most of her hand.

Ill, she stood there, staring at the spider, completely unable to move. "So it's a spider, is it?" Mister Magini asked, leering at her, "Is it? Is it?" he insisted.

"No!" Laguna chirped, "I think it's a lizard!"

"A _lizard_ huh?" Mister Magini cackled, "Why sir, I think you're right, it's a lizard!" He put his hand over the spider again, and when he lifted it away, a lizard sat on Kaiyou's palm and demurely licked its eyeball at her.

"I think I liked the bird better," Kaiyou stated in a small voice.

Magini grinned from beneath his gigantic handlebar mustache and said, "The bird? The bird, eh? So you still think it's a bird?"

Finally prying her eyes from the lizard, Kaiyou stated, "I'm honestly not sure."

Again, he put his hand over hers and once more, she was holding an egg. "Which came first, the bird or the egg? Maha!" Magini asked and spun around three times. "Now! For my next trick, I shall turn this boy-" he pointed at Kaiyou, "Into a girl!"

"_What?_" Kaiyou squeaked.

Laguna started laughing.

Reaching back, Magini grabbed Kaiyou's arm and hauled her out of the crowd up front. Stumbling to a stop, she clutched the egg she still held, trying not to break it. Startled, she stood staring helplessly at the crowd as the three triplets- large men, twice Magini's size and then some, and perhaps twice as broad- ran around her in circles with a length of striped cloth that blocked her from sight of the crowd.

"_Abra Kadabra!_" Magini shouted from beyond the cloth and an explosion of choking smoke engulfed the stage area.

As the smoke cleared, Kaiyou stood in front of the crowd, her face pink, lips pressed together in a hard line.

Slowly, she bent forward, bursting out into hysterical laughter as the brawny triplets looked down at their flowery sundresses in shock, their blonde pigtails fluttering in the breeze. Apparently... that wasn't how it was supposed to happen.

The crowd burst out laughing.

Magini spun around to look and threw his hands into the air, "Maha!" he cried and did three turns. "Now, I will turn my lovely assistants back into men!" Kaiyou was still cackling, bent over her knees as another puff of choking smoke went off around her.

Straightening, she waved some clear air past her face as Magini tottered up to her. "So is it still a bird?" he asked loudly.

Lifting her hand, Kaiyou displayed the egg- which shattered in her palm, revealing a tiny moogle which announced, "Kupo!"

"And now, my handsome young man, would you assist me in one more Amazing Feat?" Magini requested.

"What is it?" Kaiyou asked. "You're not gonna saw me in half, are you?"

"No- but I'll keep that in mind for next time! Better!" Magini gestured, and Kaiyou looked towards what he'd pointed at- finding one of the brawny triplets holding a huge crossbow. Another had a large ball, and the third carried a blindfold and apple. She blinked slowly.

"So is it a moogle?" Magini asked and Kaiyou looked at him just as he waved his hand over the moogle in her palm. "Or is it a bird?"

A tiny Chocobo looked up at her from her palm and announced, "Kweh!"

By the time she looked back at the triplets, the third was heading towards her with the apple, the one with the crossbow now had possession of the ball and blindfold. Pulling her back a few steps to stand in front of one of the posts that held up the awning, the triplet put the apple on her head as Mister Magini said, "Now don't you worry! Heath here has had a one-hundred percent success rate of hitting _something_ during this trick!"

"I'm Keith," said the blindfolded triplet.

"Oh right! well then, son, you've got something to worry about!" Magini said cheerfully at Kaiyou. "Bob, if you would start the drum roll?"

Bob, was apparently the third triplet, and he obediently pulled out a large drum and began playing the requested beat as Keith stepped onto his ball, steadied by Heath. Kaiyou was sure she was pale as a ghost as she stood there, unable to move.

"_Ready?_" Magini raised his hand, as Keith wobbled on the ball, crossbow pointed at nearly anything but Kaiyou. "_GO_!" Magini shouted, dropping his hand.

Instinctively, Kaiyou dived down just as the crossbow bolt slammed into the post just above where her head had been. Looking up, she blinked at the dripping apple, firmly impaled by the bolt. The audience clapped appreciatively.

Lifting his own large hands, Magini clapped them high in the air and turned towards her, "Son, you've sure got some reflexes! Now for your prize! Hold out your hand!"

Blinking, Kaiyou held out her hand, which still contained the tiny Chocobo. "But! You must answer the question first! Which came first, the bird or the egg?"

"The egg?" Kaiyou stated, eyes wide.

Magini spun around, "He says _the egg_!" the dwarf announced. "Do you agree?" he pointed towards the audience and Laguna was the loudest to shout 'Yeah'.

"Then it is _the egg_!" Magini shouted and spun around three times before turning back to Kaiyou and waved his hand over the Chocobo, and once more, she was holding an egg.

Before she could blink, Kaiyou was shoved back out to Laguna, laughing, she landed against his shoulder and commented, "I should have said the bird!" holding up the egg. "Oh!" she turned blinking up at Heath, or was it Keith? Maybe it was Bob? Either way, the brawny triplet held out a small box to her and left, the crowd dispersing. "Oh, what's this?" she murmured, opening the box. It was just the right size to put an egg into, and indeed had padding, and a note inside. "Hey kid," she read out loud, "Great job, that was the best show ever. Magini. PS. Careful with the egg, it's special."

Grinning up at Laguna, she said, "That was fun, what next?"

"Hmmm!" the mage replied, standing on his toes and peering around the assorted crowd of humans and animal people, finally pointing, "Oh! Ice cream!" he said, "I didn't get to finish mine in Toontown."

"In – in _Toontown_?" Kaiyou fussed, "You got ice cream in Toontown? Aww!"

Laughing, Laguna patted her head, "It's okay, I'll pay. After all, I paid for Sora's so it's only fair I pay for yours too!"

Again, she flashed a grin at him and carefully placed her egg into the provided box for safe keeping and put the prize into her side-pack with her camera. Gleefully trailing after Laguna, Kaiyou paused, blinking as she looked through the crowd to find a tall man in clothes that looked incredibly familiar to Vivi's standing behind a stall.

"Aros!" Laguna called, and she looked over towards him, then back towards the yellow-eyed man. Turning, she jogged over to Laguna, "What's up?" the mage asked, "See something you want to go do next?"

"Ah- well, kinda. See that guy over there," she pointed, "With the tall hat. I've seen someone like him in Twilight Town."

Looking towards the guy she'd pointed at, then back towards her, Laguna smiled, "Alright, we'll go talk to him- but _after_ ice cream, please?"

With a laugh, she nodded, "He's tending a stall, I don't think he's going anywhere... though..." putting a finger to her lower lip, she peered, "That meat on a stick sure looks good too..."

"We can get some of that too, then," Laguna stated cheerfully. "After all! It's not every day I get to go to a fair!"

Sniggering, Kaiyou replied, "You're a party all on your own," and to soften her words, she stood on her toes and placed a kiss on his cheek. Blushing, she fled through the crowd to the ice cream stand.

Now grinning like a fool, Laguna jogged after her and ordered, "Single scoop vanilla on a waffle cone for him, and double chocolate for me!"

Turning wide eyes on him, Kaiyou beamed, "How'd you know Vanilla is my favorite?"

Proudly thumping his fists on his hips, Laguna puffed out his chest, "I'm Psychic like that!"

As they were served their ice creams, trumpets blared loudly and the crowd parted allowing a carriage to go past, escorted by red-clad warriors on sparkling gold Chocobos. In the carriage was a blonde man and a woman, both richly dressed, and a little girl with dark hair dressed in pink. "Wow," Kaiyou murmured, licking her ice cream, "Must be royalty of some sort."

"That's Regent Cid of Lindblum!" the woman tending the ice cream cart informed her, leaning across the cart in emphasis, "He's Princess Garnet's uncle."

Looking back towards the man, Kaiyou murmured, "Ohh. I see." She smiled and turned to look at the woman, "Thank you!" Latching onto Laguna's arm as soon as the carriage had gone past, Kaiyou dragged her mage away, heading towards the other stall with the pointy-hat dude, though not before she thought she heard someone say.

"What a handsome young man!"

Flushing, Kaiyou tried to ignore the comments and pulled to a stop in front of the new cart. "Hi!" she said to the tall guy with bright yellow eyes.

Silence met her, and she leaned forward and down, trying to peek under the brim of his hat, "Hey- I just had a question- do you know someone named Vivi?"

The dude gasped, "Vivi?" apparently, this was the magical thing to say, for the man became excited and waved his hands in the air, "Vivi is okay? What did he say? Where is he? What happened to him?"

Leaning back and away as the dude loomed at her, she replied, "Yeah, I saw him in another town. He seems to be doing quite well actually. I didn't realize he was lost though, but... well, I've got to go back to that place again soon, so if you've got a message for him, I'm willing to take it. Just so long as you don't mind how long it might take to get it to him and all?"

"Oh please! Would you?" the dude begged.

Nodding, Kaiyou replied, "If you wouldn't mind writing it down for me? That way, I won't forget it."

Looking around, the man in the pointy hat patted his pockets, shuffled around. Kaiyou shook her head and transferred her ice cream to her other hand and shuffled in her side-pack. "I've got a paper if you've got something to write with?" That was a better compromise than having him provide everything. Finally, he came out with a pencil and she balanced her ice cream in one hand and leaned on the edge of the cart to write as the dude dictated.

"Uh... what should I say?" he asked.

"How about start with your name?" Laguna suggested helpfully, "and ask if he's okay, and would he like a ride home?"

"Oh! Oh, yes!" said the dude, clapping his large white gloves. "Uh- I'm Number Three-Forty-Seven, and uh..."

Kaiyou scribbled out something and straightened, "How's this: Vivi, Three-Forty-Seven asks if you're alright and wonders if or when you're coming home." Lifting her eyes, she smiled, "That sound okay?"

Three-Forty-Seven nodded, then reached down and picked up a pair of sticks with succulent smelling meat on them, "Here," he said cheerfully, "To pay for taking the message."

Grinning, Kaiyou stuffed the note into her side-pack and nodded, "Okay! Thank you! I'll get it to him ASAP!" Each of them taking a stick, Kaiyou nibbled on the meat and murmured appreciatively. It was good! With food in each hand, Kaiyou grinned up at Laguna, "So, what next? –You've got ice cream on your nose." Crossing his eyes in an effort to see, he merely succeeded in making Kaiyou burst out laughing as she stumbled along through the fair.

_'This is the most fun I've ever had!'_ she told Umi gleefully.

_'I'm glad,'_ Umi replied, _'This memory will be kept too.' _

Nodding to herself, Kaiyou savored her ice cream and mystery meat on a stick and just wandered around aimlessly with Laguna till they found a set of tables set up out of the way, but with a large crowd standing and watching several people playing some sort of card game. "Oh!" Laguna leaned closer, "This looks like Triple Triad! I used to be a whiz back in the day." Having finished his food long before Kaiyou had, he placed his thumb and first finger on his chin, "Hmm, rules look to be slightly different. Rather simplified from Triple Triad, what with no elemental attack bonuses on the cards."

"What?" Kaiyou leaned forward and peered up at him, "You want to play?"

"Well, I'd like to but haven't got any cards," Laguna shrugged, then looked towards her as she munched on the last of her waffle cone, staring up at him with large luminescent eyes. "Hey!" he pointed across the way, "Let's go see if we can win a prize at that!" Looping his arm with hers, he hauled her off bodily to the stall with the bottles set up to be knocked down for a prize.

Paying for a total of three tries, Laguna wound up- and pitched.

Distracted, Kaiyou turned away to look up at the castle that loomed over the city of Alexandria, taking note of the broken top towers and various other signs of damage. "Hey!" Laguna called and wrapped an arm around her neck, hauling her back, "What'cha thinking?"

Turning her head to look up at him, Kaiyou sighed, "That Dagger and I never really talked about much of anything..."

"Hey now," Laguna prodded her side, making her squirm, "That doesn't mean you're not friends."

Desperately slapping his hand to make him stop, Kaiyou meeped, "I know that- I just thought it'd be nice to just... have someone to just... well... _talk_ with. About _stuff_."

"You can talk to _me_," he offered in a sugary voice.

"You're not the _same_," Kaiyou objected in a whiney voice, which made Laguna laugh and finally let her go. "You've got one shot left," she pointed out. "Can I try?" He nodded, gesturing towards the un-touched stack of milk cans. Picking up the ball, she eyed the cans for a long moment, "I've never done this before," she admitted, hauled back her arm, and launched the ball- just as someone knocked into her from behind. "Hey!" spinning around, she saw a rat kid dashing off down the street and looked down at her side-pack, "That rat-kid stole something from me..." reaching into her pack, her eyes widened as she immediately knew what was missing, "My camera!"

Latching the pack closed in mid-stride, she took off after the kid- who looked back and shrieked in terror. "Give it _back_ you brat!"

* * *

_Next Chapter: Another reminder of the Forgotten past will open a door to the future. Welcome to Alexandria - watch out for that hippo-lady, Laguna! _


	44. Welcome to Alexandria

_Chapter 44_

_(Welcome to Alexandria)_

Furious, she leapt over children and other low obstacles alike, weaving through the crowd at the fair like a fish through water. Kaiyou was good at moving quickly through crowds.

Laguna, however was not, and thus, she left him behind without a second thought.

Slipping through the crowd easily Kaiyou followed as the kid turned right, dodging down a side-street. The rat kid looked back, eyes widening as he found that neither the crowd nor the direction change had shaken Kaiyou from his tail, and even as he tried to put on more speed, she closed the gap. Balling a fist, she landed a solid punch to the back of his head, which sent him sailing forward, the camera flying from his grip. Running on ahead, Kaiyou skidded on the cobblestones, but still managed to catch the camera before it hit the ground. Staggering to a stop, she straightened, pointing firmly at the rat kid as he stood, dusting himself off. "Finally, I got you alone!" the kid said, stopping Kaiyou just as she was about to rant at him about being a thief.

"Huh?" dropping her arm, she scowled, "Whatever- You need to find a better hobby than being a light fingered little sneak!"

Lifting his hands, he waved, them, "Hey now! Wait a minute and let me explain! I heard you talking about sending Vivi a message earlier. Where is Vivi?"

Shoving her camera into her side-pack, Kaiyou folded her arms and lifted her chin, "Maybe... I won't tell you. You could have just walked up to me and asked, you know. Now I've got to go hunt for my mage- who knows what trouble he's probably gotten into without me there!" Dropping her hands, she placed them over the flaps on her packs and stalked past the rat kid- only to look over and find him walking beside her.

"Alright- alright! You got me back with that punch!" he scrubbed the back of his head, "Just tell me where Vivi is!"

Spinning around, Kaiyou leaned down, jabbing a finger against his nose as she said, "You've gone and made me mad, I don't have to tell you anything."

"I can pay-" the rat kid started, sounding as if the very word 'pay' hurt to say. It probably did. "Aw- come on!" he shouted, jumping up and down as Kaiyou turned away again, "Hey! Hey!" Jogging to catch up with her again, the rat kid said, "Hey- how's this! I can get you in to see the Princess!"

Kaiyou frowned, "And what makes you think she'd want to see me? And how close are we talking?"

Grinning, the rat boy side-stepped in front of her as Kaiyou came to a stop. "Why, right up next to her! I know some secret ways in to the palace and no one will ever know we were there!"

Pursing her lips, Kaiyou blinked, then frowned, "Hey, now you're bribing me! And that's breaking and entering!" Sniffing, she started forward again, intending to walk past the rat, but he threw his arms out. "C'mon! She's really pretty."

"I know. I've seen her," Kaiyou replied.

"Don't you want to see her _again_?" he leered at her, standing on his toes.

Frowning at him, Kaiyou had the feeling that what he _thought_ her reasons for wanting to see Dagger again were, and what they _really_ were, were completely different. "Right up next to her," the rat kid promised. "Close enough to smell her perfume!"

Kaiyou wrinkled her nose and looked away as the bell of some nearby church rang. "But I can't leave Laguna unattended," she whimpered, then looked down at the Rat kid again. "Vivi is in a town called Twilight Town. It's on another world, I don't know how he got there, but he's okay. Seems happy enough, but I'll still offer him a ride home if he wants it. Just 'cause I told you doesn't mean I'm taking your bribe, though. I just told you to get you out of my face." Walking past him, Kaiyou stepped out of the alley and back into the crowd of pedestrians- and there, too far away for her to get to him in time, was Laguna in the process of being arrested for god knew what.

"Ahg!" Turning around, Kaiyou ran back down the alley as fast as she could and leapt, tackling the rat boy practically where she'd left him. Pinning the rat boy to the ground, she sat on his back and pleaded, "I need a favor after all! Laguna just got arrested and it likely was an accident, the man's so clumsy he'd trip and lose his head if it weren't firmly attached, but you've got to help me _please_! I don't know what to do!"

Slowly, the rat boy looked over his shoulder at her, blinked twice, and said, "Ugh- if you'd get _off_ of me, I'd be glad to help!"

Brows raising, she blinked down at him and blushed, hopping to her feet and offered a hand down to help him up. Dusting himself off, the rat boy sighed, "Alright, I figured you'd come back. You sure you want to trade your favor on _this_ though?"

Picking at her nails, Kaiyou nodded sheepishly, "Laguna's my friend and I doubt they'd believe me if I just walked into there and told them he was innocent..."

"You're sure he's innocent?" the rat kid asked.

Kaiyou nodded, "Most likely. But they probably won't believe me since I didn't see what happened! Laguna's just a klutz."

Rubbing the side of his face, the kid sighed, "Alright," holding out his hand, he offered it, "I'm Puck."

Smiling, Kaiyou took his paw, "Aros," she replied and wondered at herself for how much easier it was for her to identify herself as 'Aros' rather than 'Kaiyou'. _'Maybe it's because Aros sounds more male than Kaiyou... and Aros is a Keyblade Master and not as stupid as Kaiyou.'_

Pushing her thoughts aside, Kaiyou looked towards Puck for some idea of what to do now. "Well, I know you can run," the rat stated, "But can you fight?" he looked her over.

"Of course I can," Kaiyou replied, "I knocked you flat, twice."

"The second time doesn't count!" Puck objected.

Flipping a hand, Kaiyou replied, "Why do you ask anyway?"

"Because we might have to knock out a few guards and there's monsters in the tunnels. Weird black things..."

Biting her tongue, Kaiyou kept herself from blurting out the thought that immediately came to mind and instead nodded, "I can handle monsters." Lifting a fist, she slapped her bicep with her other hand, "I'm real tuff!"

Puck just laughed at her. "Right, sure you are."

"We're wasting time, though! Laguna needs saving!" Kaiyou pointed out.

Flicking his fingers dismissively, Puck replied, "Gotta give them some time to get him into a cell. How about you treat me to dinner?"

"How about not?" Kaiyou replied, "You've got nothing to pay me back with."

"That secret trip to see the Princess?" Puck offered with a grin. "It'd be a great way to kill some time."

Kaiyou frowned at him. "I just ate. I'm not hungry."

He heaved a gusty sigh, "can't blame me for trying, can you?"

"I _can_ blame you for having sticky-fingers," Kaiyou stated and paused as the world seemed to slide sideways, making her stumble. Lifting her hands and clutching her pendant with one and pressing her left across her eyes, Kaiyou stood still as the unconnected images flickered behind her lids. The pendant brightened with warmth in her grip.

_"Isn't that nice, Kaiyou? You want to try it on?"_ he asked. _"Come on. There. That looks pretty on you. Let's take it..."_

Curled up in the corner, she couldn't stop crying, _"I shouldn't have been out with him!"_

_"Aros, it's not your fault,"_ Sora insisted.

Wiping her eyes, Kaiyou blinked away the memory as it shattered, probably to come back to her later. _'Again... Sora was there in my memory again! Why Umi...?'_

"Hey!" Puck shouted, "Quit your bawling, it's not the end of the world!"

Lowering her hand from her eyes, Kaiyou blinked at him, "No- I just had a sudden headache," she replied, "I get them from time to time." Rubbing the bridge of her nose with the heel of her hand, she feigned pain and finally stated, "So let's get going, huh?"

"Alright!" Puck grumbled, "you're _sure_ you don't want to buy me dinner?"

"Absolutely sure."

* * *

Sora frowned.

He frowned quite deeply. "Now... this doesn't make sense."

_"Sora?"_ Roxas called over the radio unit and Sora leaned forward, pressing the button.

"Yeah, Rox?"

_"Which way did they go?"_ Roxas asked. It really was a simple and obvious question, considering that they'd reached a point where the paths split, and after running a quick check, verified that they were both indeed opened and locked to the light, which was something only a Keyblade was capable of.

In all honesty, Sora _should_ have known the answer to Roxas's simple question, after all, he'd _seen_ Aros. But the problem lay in the fact that Sora had taken off in his Gummi Ship before Aros had left the world of Salem.

Pausing for a very long moment, Sora finally sighed and answered honestly, "I uh, didn't stick around to see them leave..."

_"They couldn't have opened BOTH paths just to confuse you... could they?"_ Roxas suggested.

"Um... I didn't think Aros was quite that vindictive," he replied. And he didn't think that Laguna would have approved of that. "Maybe... they split up? Kaiyou _did _say something about ditching Aros, but I asked her not to..." And she did have a Keyblade as well.

Heaving a heavy sigh over the radio, Roxas replied, _"Alright, I guess we split up again. I'll take the door to the left. You head right, and try not to tick Aros off if you find him?"_

"I wouldn't!" Sora exclaimed, pouting, but his protest came too late for Roxas had already taken off, leaving Sora with little else to do but turn his ship towards the door to the right and head off.

He was interrupted, however by Goofy's sudden announcement: "Sora the book's glowin' again!"

Blinking, the brunet looked over at Goofy, then down at what the dog-man was pointing at, which was, of course Sora's side-pack. Popping open the flap on his pack, Sora pulled the book out and flipped past the entry on Beelzebub, finally reaching the glowing pages. Sora was ready to face the strange girl this time, and intended to fight harder for access to Aros's memory. How better to learn about the boy than to see his past?

Gary was wrong about Aros. Aros wasn't just some mutated copy of Sora! He couldn't be... What would be the point of creating Aros, after all? Yen Sid had said that Aros was special and needed protecting...

Light flashed brightly, and Sora stood half blinded for a time before he finally blinked the blue dots from his vision. Again, he stood in a featureless room, or area... though it was endless. There was no floor or ceiling or walls, just white, and- slightly chill. Shifting, he heard his feet crunch on something hard but powdery.

_"You're here again,"_ the girl stated as she stepped out of the glow, figure forming out of light and blinding white. _"Are you sure you want to do this? It might stir up memories you've locked deep within your own heart..."_

Lifting his chin, Sora set his shoulders, "I'm sure," With that, he drew his Keyblade and with determination, leapt towards the girl, swinging.

Instantly on the move, the girl leapt backwards, letting Sora's Blade clash sharply against the ground, sending up white powder. "Snow?" Sora asked, but didn't have time to ponder it further. The girl charged him as soon as she landed, bringing up her bracer to block his retaliating swing. Pushing away from each other, Sora swung his blade again, but she blocked once more, the metal of her spikes and his weapon clanging as he repeatedly slashed and she blocked. He was driving her back, though, step by step.

The girl's expression was blank and she stared only at Sora's face as he pressed her.

Suddenly, she was no longer there.

Turning- but not quickly enough Sora was thrown forward by the strength of her kick to his back. Landing hard, he rolled in the cold powdery snow and staggered to his feet as the girl appeared beside him again, launching another kick at his stomach, catching him off guard once more.

_"You INSULT me!"_ the girl shouted, sounding enraged though the expression didn't touch her face. _"I know you're a better fighter than this!"_

Again, she appeared next to him as he staggered to his feet, lifting her foot in another round-house kick for his face this time.

Instinctively, Sora raised his left arm to shield himself- and gasped as his bracer warmed. The girl's kick deflected off a crystal shield, and she leapt back away from him as he immediately charged, swinging his Keyblade. Still, the tip caught her thigh, slicing a line of red down it to the knee. Landing, she staggered, and Sora was upon her again, bringing his blade around two-handed.

Bringing both her arms up, the girl blocked his slash, then leapt back as he followed with another stab towards her unprotected stomach.

Sidestepping, she came in around his blade with a hard punch to his face that sent him flying backwards again. Rolling to his feet quickly as she closed the distance in two long strides, he used his left hand to knock aside her next punch and got his Keyblade in for a cut down her thigh. Blood splattered across the snow that covered the ground as they both leapt back.

Again, leaping back in at the same moment, Sora swung his Keyblade around, only to have it blocked by her right arm. Turning his shoulder, he took her left hook and used the momentum from that to throw himself into a spin mid-air and throw her aside. Landing in a crouch in the snow, he closed the distance between them in a low run, then spun to slash at her once more, catching both her arms and knocking them aside. Stepping forward, he reversed the cut of his blade.

His strike landed, cutting straight across her chest from shoulder to shoulder, tearing the fabric of her dress with a shredding sound. Her impact with the ground made Sora pause, and he watched as she lay still in the snow, unmoving as blood seeped from her wounds, crimson against the white and blonde of the snow and her body.

"Hey-" he started, stepping forward slowly. She didn't answer.

Hurrying to her side, Sora knelt and rolled her over- and blushed darkly as he found the front of her dress ripped, exposing the tops of her breasts but thankfully nothing more. "Hey- are you alright?" Sora asked urgently, focusing on her face instead.

Slowly opening her eyes- Ocean blue eyes- she smirked, lifting a hand to pull the diamond shaped pendant from her neck. "You win," she stated and disappeared in a glitter of light sparks as soon as Sora took the pendant from her.

Light swallowed him.

* * *

_Next Chapter: Sora's excursion into Kaiyou-land, full of vicious spike-wearing lesbians and anal guards. Also, Yuna's recap of FF10!_


	45. Stolen Memories

_Chapter 45_

_(Stolen Memories)_

Blinking rapidly, Sora scrubbed his eyes, trying to clear the white spots from his vision. It took a moment, but finally, he lowered his hands and looked around, finding himself standing in a very small room with bars on one side, a toilet to the right, and a narrow cot chained to the wall on his left. The floor was bare concrete, the walls painted cinderblock, the bars metal, and the ceiling metal tiles with a fluorescent panel in the center. Beyond the bars, the floor was still concrete, the roof the same, and a blank whitewashed cinderblock wall.

Silence rang like a bell here, but it was not the reverent silence of a church, or the peaceful silence of the Island he and Riku and Kairi used to play on. It was a strained silence, one filled with tension and fear and anger.

It was a silence unbroken except for snoring some distance down the hall beyond the bars.

Until a soft voice whispered, "You're here."

Quickly turning, Sora's heart nearly stopped as his gaze focused on Aros, curled in the corner under the unoccupied cot, arms wrapped around his knees, face hidden in the shadows. "Aros..." Sora said softly and stepped forward, kneeling down on his hands and knees in front of the boy. "What happened? Are you alright?"

One hand clutching his pendant, Aros slowly slid out from beneath the cot, light falling across the dark bruise covering the side of his face. He moved with painful care, creeping out from beneath the cot to curl against Sora's chest, trembling as he was caught by a fresh set of tears. "Wh- what happened?" Sora whispered, terrified to put his arms too tightly around the poor boy for fear of hurting him.

"They put me here-" Aros choked, voice squeaking, "They said _I'd_ stolen it, _HE'D_ said I'd stolen it- but _he_ stole it... He did..."

"Wait a minute, back up. From the beginning please?" Sora requested carefully.

Turning his face against Sora's shoulder, Aros sniffled, coughing with a wet sob and gingerly, the older boy held the younger version of his copy-cat. "Louis and I- we were out at the mall, and he said ...he said... 'look at that, isn't it pretty?' and I said it was, and he had the clerk take it out and put on me... and..."

"Wait, what _is_ 'it'?" Sora asked for clarification.

"A bracelet," Aros sniffled. "Well, I took it off and was handing it back to the clerk, but then someone dropped something on the other side of the desk and everyone looked and Louis grabbed the bracelet and me and we ran and he put it in my pocket and when we got out of the store, he turned and said that if I was his friend, I'd say _I_ took it and when I said I wouldn't he... he..." Aros broke into hard wracking sobs, "He beat me up and then told the police that I'd taken it and that he'd told me not to and that I'd tried to attack him and he'd defended himself!"

From down the hall, a voice shouted, "Be quiet in there!"

Biting his lip, Aros tried to stifle his sobs, but continued to wetly sniffle against Sora's shoulder. Carefully holding the boy, Sora rocked the smaller boy. "Shh," he whispered, "I believe you. What need do _you_ have for a bracelet anyway?" Sora reassured.

"I don't," Aros whispered. "But the judge didn't believe me when I told the truth and they yelled at me for lying. And _no one_ who saw Louis start the fight came forward to say anything, they all just walked on like nothing was going on!"

"Hey!" the voice called from down the hall, "I said be quiet!"

Aros whimpered and pulled away from Sora, sliding back beneath the bunk and into the shadows again as the guard stepped into view, scowling at Aros. "You keep it up and I'll punish you," he brute of a guard threatened, pointing his baton at the cowering juvenile delinquent.

Scowling at the man who didn't seem to see him at all, Sora growled, then turned away, climbing under the bunk with Aros.

When the man left, Aros whispered quietly as he could, "It's my fault. I'm just cursed," he breathed into the fabric of his pants, "I'm not meant to have friends of any kind. I shouldn't have believed him when he said he was my friend – no one wants to be _my_ friend. I'm not going to believe anyone else who says that to me. _Ever._"

"Not even me?" Sora asked.

Lifting his Ocean blue eyes, Aros sniffled, "I don't know you..."

"You promised we'd get to know each other though," Sora reminded.

Shaking his head, Aros said softly, "I don't remember that."

"I do," Sora stated, "I'm gonna hold you to it, too."

For a long moment, Aros didn't answer, he just curled into a miserable ball, face on his knees. "You're not to blame," Sora insisted, "What Louis did, he chose to do. You can't take responsibility for it."

"Then why did I get blamed?" Aros asked.

"I don't know..." Sora admitted, "But take this experience and learn from it - think about what you should have done, and if it happens again, you'll know what to do to keep from being blamed."

Softly Aros muttered into his knees, "I'll just not have any friends ever again. I'll trust no one."

"No!" Sora sighed, "That's not what I meant..."

Lifting his head slightly, Aros stared at Sora, tears glittering on his cheeks in the light from the hall. "Then what do I do?"

"Promise... promise you'll at least be my friend?" Sora asked.

Staring at him for a long moment, Aros didn't answer, then finally closed his eyes and leaned against Sora's side. "I promise..." he whispered, "After all if I can't trust my own multiple personalities... who can I trust?"

Silence fell between them, Aros leaning against Sora's side, eyes closed, trembling. Sora frowned slightly as the thought occurred to him. _'Kaiyou thinks I'm something she made up too...'_

Reluctantly, Aros lifted his head and looked at Sora, "You need to go away now," she told him. "I don't want everyone making fun of me because I'm crazy as well as a loser. Goodbye for now... till I need you again." With that, he released his pendant.

Flailing, Sora tried to call out, but his voice could not break the silence and light shattered around him. Suddenly, he landed on his face in the snow. Fighting his way to his feet, Sora looked around, but still couldn't see any features. The snow seemed to be all that was real in this world.

From the light, a shadow formed, and the mysterious girl in white and spikes stepped up to him, stopping directly in front of Sora, her Ocean blue eyes staring hard into his. "This memory has been unlocked," she stated, "Goodbye for now- until the next time."

"Wait - Who are you?" Sora called.

She paused as she turned to leave, tipping her head slightly to the side, "I am Umi."

The light blinded him once more.

Sora blinked several times before realizing that he was back in his ship, staring blankly at the book he held open between his hands. Blinking once more, he finally focused his eyes on the book he held, finding that once again, the gibberish that had been there was now legible. Skipping past the recounting of the event that had led to Aros's being arrested, Sora read the final paragraph of the entry.

_"I saw my imaginary brother again. He said that it wasn't my fault. He said he believed me when I told him about what Louis had done. ...he made me promise to be HIS friend at least if I was friends with no one else. I agreed... I'm not sure why I agreed, except that I want a real friend so bad that I'm willing to make them up if I have to. I don't see him very often, and he's always supportive of me, believes me, tells me it'll all be okay... So I trust him to not hurt me. I have to trust him, he's a product of my own mind, after all. I wouldn't lie to myself... would I?"_

Closing the book, Sora shook his head slowly. _'Poor Aros...'_ taking a breath, Sora lifted his chin, _'But even though he's been betrayed before, he should remember that promise he just made to me, next time I see him, I might be able to talk to him more!'_

Setting his shoulders, Sora smiled at his companions, Donald, Goofy, and even turned around to flash that same smile to Khimari, who curled his lips slightly in return, lightening his expression marginally. "Alright, I'm ready to go now!" Sora announced, which caused Goofy and Donald to nod in agreement, though they were obviously curious as to what the heck had just happened. Sora didn't feel like explaining though.

Taking hold of the controls, Sora shot through the opened path, glad that he didn't have to fight the Space Heartless this time. They were a bother sometimes, especially when he wanted to get somewhere fast. Breaking through to the other side, Sora gasped, "It's-" leaning forward.

"Radiant Garden!" Goofy finished.

* * *

At least traveling now was a heck of a lot easier, seeing as how the paths were open and locked. Riku leaned back in his chair as they finally reached Disney Castle by following the opened pathways. However...

_"Sorry, Riku, Sora just left!"_ Chip said.

Pressing the comm button again, Riku replied, "Thanks anyway..."

_"Wait!"_ Dale interrupted, _"Queen Minnie wants to talk to you."_

Hesitating briefly, Riku had to think about that for a moment. Well, he was fairly good friends with Mickey, but... well... despite how often Mickey talked about Minnie, Riku didn't personally know her. However, she would probably know what was going on. Hitting the button, Riku answered, "Alright. I'll meet her in the library."

With that, he got up, heading for the teleport pad. He was immediately joined by Yuna, Rikku, and Paine. With a sigh, Riku teleported anyway and opened his eyes to find himself standing in Mickey's library, just as Minnie came bustling in.

"Oh Riku," Minnie breathed in relief, "Sora's been so worried about you!"

Releasing Riku's hair, the Gullwings spread out around him, Yuna looking curiously towards the shelves, nibbling the nails of one hand. Rikku had gotten distracted by one of the paintings and had gone to look at it, and Paine stayed close by with a rather dour look. "I'm sure he hasn't," Riku stated, "I heard he was chasing some chick named Aros."

Minnie came to a complete stop and blinked, "...Girl? Named Aros? Where did you hear that?"

Vagely, Riku gestured, "On a world he just left, I never caught the name of it."

"Salem," Paine supplied blandly.

Hands going to her mouth, Minnie shook her head, "Oh, well, I suppose I should clarify things for you. Sora is looking for a girl named Kaiyou as well as his clone, Aros."

At this, Riku frowned, "Huh..."

Turning her attention back to the conversation, Yuna said, "But Dani specifically said that Aros was a girl."

Zipping back over, Rikku nearly crashed into the platinum-haired boy's head as he stepped forward. "Hey! Watch it!" she snapped, then landed on his head to take up Yuna's side of the matter, "And Dani also said that Aros thought that Sora was mad at her but Sora really isn't and Aros won't stick around to find that out."

With a purse of her lips, Minnie looked from one fairy to the other, and finally looked at Riku, "I think... I'm confused," Minnie stated, "Have you _seen_ Aros yet?"

"No," Riku admitted, "But I'll keep an eye out for her. In any case, I'm heading back the way I came, maybe I'll catch up with Sora. If I don't, well, I'll come back here in two days. If he gets back before I do, tie him up with something till I show. Okay?"

Minnie nodded, "Alright. You be careful. The Organization is looking for something called the Princes of Darkness, the man named Gary is one of them..." she hesitated before continuing, looking more than a little disturbed, "Sora... Sora said to kill him on sight."

If they could have, Riku's brows would have hit the ceiling, "_Really_?" he wheezed, "Shi...hh," he started to say but bit his tongue at Minnie's intense glower. "Right. I guess the guy needs killing if _Sora_ says he does. If I see him, well, I'll give him something to think on in the afterlife. Thanks for the info, see you."

With a little shrug, Minnie spread her white-gloved hands, "Good luck," she told him, watching as the fairies gathered and grabbed his hair. In a flash of light, Riku was gone again.

"My," the queen murmured, "He sure is tall."

* * *

Flopping into the pilots seat again, Riku pushed his hair back over his shoulders as he took the controls of the ship, "So, Miss High Summoner Yuna," he started with a slightly sarcastic tone. Not that he'd intended to start that way, that was just how it had come out sounding. Rikku scowled at him and pulled out one of her weapons, ready to cut him up. Yuna floated between them, shaking her head at her friend, then turned towards Riku as he continued, "Tell me about how you became a 'High Summoner'?" He assumed that was an important title, anyway.

"Oh," Yuna breathed with a smile.

Floating over, Rikku and Yuna took seats on the top of the battle screen in front of Riku, since he wasn't going to be using it on this trip. "Well, you see," the brunet girl started then paused as she tried to think of a way to explain. "Well..."

"There's this thing called Sin," Rikku interrupted, giving Yuna a place to start.

Yuna smiled, clasping her hands together as she kicked her feet, "Yes, Sin. A thousand years ago, there was a great war between the cities of Spira, our world, and in the end, no one really won and Sin was born. Sin was thought to be our punishment for relying on Machina, so we would only say it was our fault when Sin attacked and destroyed our lives." She looked down and away, "No one thought to question this, we just followed the teachings of Yevon blindly and wasted our lives." Lifting her eyes, she straightened her back and continued, "So it was in the doctrine that Summoners were to go on Pilgrimage and visit the Fayth to gain access to Aeons to summon in order for our abilities to grow so we could receive the Final Aeon and defeat Sin, bringing a time of calm. So that is how it was for a thousand years."

Rikku was uncharacteristically silent, which drew the platinum-haired boy's attention. He looked from one girl to the other, then over to Paine who had come to stand behind the other two, like a guard. Riku, however, felt he needed to interrupt, "Wait, what's a Fayth? And an Aeon?"

"Oh!" Rikku said, speaking up finally, "A Fayth is the soul of someone who has sacrificed their life to become an Aeon, which Summoners can call." She looked towards Yuna, who nodded in agreement with that explanation.

Taking a breath, Yuna continued, "That was how it was... until me. You see," she looked into Riku's eyes, "The act of summoning the Final Aeon kills the Summoner, so all the High Summoners before me sacrificed their lives to defeat Sin, yet the Calms only lasted for a decade at the most. Sin would always return. My father was a High Summoner, so I thought it was my duty to Spira to bring the next Calm, so I set off on my Journey with Wakka, Lulu, and Khimari... and that was when I met Tidus." She smiled shyly, looking down, her fingers twisting together. "He just showed up from the sea and Wakka ...well, Tidus looked like Wakka's little brother, Chappu, and well... Chappu had died, killed by Sin. So we ended up bringing Tidus with us. He said he was from Zanarkand, the final destination in a Summoner's Journey, he said it was a city that never slept, that was full of Machina and light and I... I believed him. No one else did, but I believed him because... because his father, Jecht, had been a Gaurdian for my father. I thought it was rather appropriate that Tidus be _my_ Guardian."

Riku remained silent, listening intently, though he did spare a moment to program their next destination into the computer and put the ship on auto pilot.

For a moment, Yuna was silent and Riku looked towards her, finding that she was not finished, just trying to think of how to say the next part. "We found out that the Final Aeon was a lie," she stated, "when we got to Zanarkand. We found out that Yu Yevon was a lie. The Final Aeon... sacrificed two lives rather than just one and the act of summoning the Final Aeon only made Sin's rebirth possible. It was... a spiral of death." A smile curved her lips then as she concluded, "It was a spiral that Tidus encouraged me to break."

Outside, the universe sped past, their ship covering a considerable distance in a fairly short time, possible only because the paths were opened.

Lifting her eyes, she met Riku's gaze, "You see, Sin is an armor, created from the Final Aeon. When a Summoner defeats Sin with a Final Aeon, Yu Yevon, the creator of Sin, takes over the Final Aeon that was used to destroy the previous Sin and makes it into Sin. The Fayth that created the Sin I battled... was none other than Jecht. Jecht who refused to give in and allowed us to destroy him. So in the end, I had to Summon every Aeon and allow Yu Yevon to take it and defeat the Aeon until there was nowhere left for Yu Yevon to hide. And then, we defeated him and I Sent him and the other Fayth to the Farplane where they could finally be at rest." She paused, looking away again, the light of triumph abruptly leaving her eyes, "But... because of where Tidus came from... my Sending the Fayth meant losing him."

Licking her lips, Yuna took a breath, "But recently, I found a Sphere of what I think is him, and I joined the Gullwings, looking for more Spheres, hoping that I'll find him along the way."

Slowly, Riku nodded at that, "Ah, and Spheres are?"

"They're objects in which to keep memories," Rikku supplied.

"Videos," Riku translated, "Gotcha." Folding his arms, he leaned back in his chair, "So, you're the only Summoner to defeat Sin and not die," he concluded, "No wonder everyone was so worried you'd disappeared."

Yuna flushed, "I'm just a symbol," she stated demurely, "I can't Summon anymore, so, as I said before, the title is just honorary."

Shrugging, Riku pointed out, "So? Sometimes, a symbol is just the thing you need to get a faltering country back on track, but then again, you're limiting yourself. The president of my country would just be a symbol too if she wasn't determined to be more than that. It's not that she's power hungry or anything, she just wants to keep the peace and prevent another take over from the Witch. Her husband had the same goals, but he's been missing for the last four years."

"Oh, what happened to him?" Yuna asked, eyes wide as she leaned forward.

"Our world..." Riku paused, looking away in guilt, "Fell into Darkness and when it was restored, ...not everyone came back."

Yuna nodded slightly, "Like us," she gestured at herself, Rikku, and Paine. "Maybe we should go look for your missing president too?"

Shrugging, Riku continued to stare off towards the far wall, "He might be dead by now." Though Riku knew that was just an excuse... Not that Sora had ever _met_ his father, why would Sora care?

_'What a dumb question, of COURSE Sora would care,'_ Riku berated himself, _'Though somehow, I doubt that Sora would even recognize the guy as the missing president if he met him, for all the attention he pays in History class. I really think it's Roxas who's taking the tests, not Sora!' _It was redundant to say that Sora wouldn't know his own father if the man came up and bit him in the butt.

Looking up, Riku sighed as he found that they'd reached their destination, the place where the paths of light split. "Well, the path to the right leads to Radiant Garden," leaning forward, he checked the readings from his ship, "And the path to the left is opened. Taking a guess, I'd say Sora went left."

Turning the ship, Riku shot through the path to the left.

* * *

Sora sneezed loudly, then straightened, wiping his nose with his glove.

"Shora," Donald said in disapproval.

Turning wide eyes towards the pantless duck, the boy grinned, "Sorry." It was obvious that he wasn't.

Grinning, Sora jogged down the stairs, heading towards the market square below, "We should go talk to Leon and the others!" he stated without looking back, "And find out what's been going on!" _'And get them to help me tie down Aros for a little while... though I need to do it in a way that it doesn't LOOK like I was behind it.. Awwr. This is so frustrating!'_

Donald thumped his fists on his hips as he offered, "Maybe they've sheen Arosh?"

Immediately nodding, Sora replied, "Wouldn't hurt to ask!"

Determined to remain in a good mood, Sora kept his grin glued to his lips and headed off through the crowd. "They really have done a lot to this place in the last year," he commented to Donald and Goofy. As usual, Khimari was the silent shadow behind the three, walking lightly despite his size. Besides, Roxas rather disliked it when Sora encroached on what the Nobody considered _his_ territory. The thought made Sora grin all the more.

"Sora!"

Coming to a stop, the brunet looked up just as a small dark-haired girl leapt off the wall above him. Out of reflex, Sora spread his arms and staggered backwards as the girl crashed against his chest. "Yuffie!" he said cheerfully as she clutched him around the neck excitedly. "Ah- Yuff, can't breathe!"

Pausing in her enthusiastic welcome, the girl blinked, released him and dropped to the ground, to step back, "Wow! You really _have_ grown!" she observed. He was considerably taller than her now, "Wow. You're really starting to look like Leon."

Proudly, Sora did The Pose, folding one arm across his chest, lifting the other hand near his face. "We may never meet again..."

This, of course, made Yuffie nearly fall over as she burst out laughing, "You've been practicing that, haven't you?" she gasped, "Ohh boy! I can't wait to see Leon's reaction!"

Dropping his hands, Sora grinned, "So how is everyone otherwise?"

"What? Riku hasn't caught up to you yet?" Yuffie asked, finally straightening as she wiped tears from her eyes. The market square crowd flowed around them, leaving this pocket of stillness near its edge.

Gasping in shock, Sora stepped forward, putting his hands on Yuffie's shoulders, "Woah! Riku? He was here?"

Staring up at Sora, Yuffie's cheeks turned slightly pink as she stared into his eyes, "Yeah," she stated, "Not more than a few hours ago."

"Aww!" Sora groaned, "That must be why the path here was opened! Aros went the other way!" He sighed. _'Oh well, Roxas will catch up to him and I'll be keeping my promise... sorta.'_

Yuffie blinked, staring at Sora's hair as he stood with his hands on her shoulders, bent over. "Who's Aros?"

Finally releasing her, Sora straightened, "Aros is a guy that looks a lot like me," he lifted a hand, "About this tall, though. He's... I'm not sure what he is. I think he's something the Organization made, though I don't know why. Anyway, if you see a guy named Gary..." Sora's eyes fell half-lidded, "kill him."

Startled, Yuffie stepped back, pale as if she'd seen a ghost, "Holy cow!" she gasped, "You _really_ look like Leon when you do that!" Stepping forward, she put a hand to his forehead, "You alright? I mean... you're serious about...?"

Sora brushed her hand off, expression remaining serious, "Yes, I'm completely serious. Gary is a murderer and evil, and trying to destroy Aros, and me, and probably the universe as well. He's working with Maleficent and the Organization, so, if you see him, just kill him. There's nothing worth saving in him."

Biting her lower lip for a long moment, Yuffie stared at Sora in silent shock, then finally nodded, "Alright," she agreed softly. Clearing her throat, she bounced on her toes, "But anyway- come on! You need to talk to the others!"

Grabbing his hand, she turned, yanking him off balance as she started off. Startled, Sora yelped and stumbled along behind her as she dragged him across the square, his three companions were left with little choice but to follow.

* * *

_AN: aiee. I need to get to work on writing more! O.o;;; I don't have ch46 finished yet. (yet, as in at the time of posting this. I got distracted making AMVs! Look up 'Aloria' on youtube! I made kh2 AMVs! Hehehee)_

_Next chapter: Maleficent's pissed, Reno's on the job, and poor Demyx screws up! What else could go wrong today?_


	46. Planned Escapes

_Chapter 46_

_(Planned Escapes)_

The book crashed against the far wall and landed on the floor with a resounding thump, face down and opened, pages bent but not ripped.

"Garbage!" Maleficent screamed, "Utter garbage! Why can't my subordinates ever do a simple task correctly? I want that Keybrat Kaiyou turned into a _Heartless_ yet a Prince of Darkness finds this _impossible_!"

Rounding on Reno, she scowled at him. Though she knew he wasn't to blame for this, he was the only one available to be the recipient of her wrath.

Reno, on the other hand, looked unconcerned. It was an interesting trick, this being unconcerned. One can't be too flippant in times like these, for that would incur more wrath, however, being concerned and cowering in fear only spurred he or she who was furious into further rage and abusive behavior. Reno had learned quickly how to emit an air of confidence and competence, which coupled with his nearly one-hundred-percent success rate of accomplishing the tasks given to him, Reno figured he was nearly untouchable whenever his boss went into a rage.

_'Be their name Rufus, Maleficent, or Xemnas. Man, I'm tired of this broad,'_ he thought acidly.

Unfortunately, Reno's innocence in this latest disappointment and his aura of competence did not spare him from Maleficent's misdirected wrath. Stalking over to him, her skirts fluttering around her legs, she stuck the end of her staff into his face, "You," she snarled, "brainless imbecile, I want you to quit wasting time and follow Gary and find out what he is up to!"

Spreading his hands, Reno could only point out, "I think the answer to that is right in this castle."

Furious, but at least listening, Maleficent hissed, "what... do you know?"

"I know that Xemnas has something hidden and Demyx is taking care of it," Reno replied, "I know that there were a couple of spies in the castle a few days ago, which I was going to go eliminate, but you called me back," he glared at her for that. "I also know that Riku didn't escape, he was released from the dungeons, by none other than Xemnas himself."

Eyes widening in rage, Maleficent stepped back and turned away, "That traitorous..." she hissed, "I will find a way to destroy him!" she shouted, slamming the butt of her staff on the floor. "And I will take Kingdom Hearts for myself once he is gone!"

Reno snorted, putting his hands on his hips as he looked up at the ceiling of Maleficent's study. There were no books here, except for the one on the floor, the eye on it was closed, the pages still. There was a desk on the side of the room the large window was on, giving a very lovely view of the growing Kingdom Hearts. Behind the desk was a chair, and the only other pieces of furniture in the large echoing room were a side table with a tray of tea set on it and a seating arrangement near that.

Looking at him over her shoulder, Maleficent's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Do you have a _problem_ with your orders... Turk?"

Brows raising, Reno smirked, "Not at all, just... Well, I'm sure you've figured it out already," he gave a vague gesture with one hand, carefully watching her reactions to see how far he could take his attitude and get what he wanted.

Maleficent turned to face him with an intense, burning stare, and Reno struggled not to cower from her.

Without being prompted, Reno pointed out, "Well, by my reckoning, there's now at least three Keyblades out there sending hearts to create Kingdom Hearts. Xemnas is letting our enemies do the work for us. He probably thinks he's got some way to control Riku when his plans are complete. Just as you intend to control Kaiyou, and possibly Sora as well."

Grinding her teeth, Maleficent stared hard at him for a long moment, then finally stated, "Go. Find out what you can and report to me. You are not to let any of what you know reach Xemnas. Is that clear?"

Reno nodded. He didn't bother saluting. He just turned and left without another word.

Heading out the door, he stepped into the hall, mentally going over his rather long list of Mysteries that he wished to figure out. First there was the mystery of who those spies were, that redheaded man had seemed so _familiar_. Then there was the mystery of what Demyx was hiding in that secret room, and what Xemnas was going do do with that little prize, whatever it might be. He also wanted to find out what Hojo was up to in the basement with Vexen, though he suspected it had something to do with Sephiroth and the Heartless.

However, Reno grinned as he paused in the hall, watching Demyx walk past in a way that just _screamed_ _"I'm trying to SNEAK!"_ It had been that obviousness that had attracted Reno's attention in the first place, but now, he had full permission to follow up on what he'd figured out. Grinning, Reno strolled after Demyx, and if he'd not cared if Demyx knew he was there, he would have whistled a jaunty tune.

* * *

Looking around carefully, Demyx carried the guitar he'd found in one hand and a book of chords in the other as he headed down the hall, glad to have at last gotten past the more populated section of the castle. Now, he walked confidently, grinning to himself in faked satisfaction over successfully avoiding Reno. Boldly heading over to the door he needed, he stepped in and went to the bookshelf on the left. Juggling his two rather awkward objects into one hand, Demyx pulled out the book from the shelf, hit the trigger behind it and was in the process of shoving the book back into the slot just as the guitar book he was holding slipped to the floor.

Panicked, Demyx shoved the book back into its place on the shelf, not caring that he'd not managed to put it into place fully, and dived to pick up his guitar book, dashing to the other side of the room to open the secret door and slip in. Hitting the button to unlock the alarm system twice without opening the door between would set off the alarm - as Demyx had found out early too. Barely making it into the secret passage in time, Demyx headed down it, accidentally thumping the guitar against the wall a few times along the way.

Finally reaching the end, he managed to get that door open without dropping anything, and stepped in.

She'd actually bothered getting dressed this time.

However, she was lying face down on the floor in the middle of the room, like a puddle of brunet tresses, milky skin, and black silk and lace.

"Ah!" Demyx squeaked and dashed over, putting down the guitar and book as he knelt beside her, picking her up slowly to turn her over, "Don't be dead- not again!"

As he rolled her over, he found her lips pressed together hard, the corners quirking and she cracked her eyes open. "I heard you coming," she told him, then sat up, flinging her arms around his shoulders with a laugh, "Did I scare you?" she asked cheerfully, then drew back to look at his face.

He was frowning. "You know how much trouble I'd be in if you've started having relapses."

Pouting at him, she brushed her skirts out of the way and stood, pushing the long silky fall of her hair back over her shoulders.

Demyx sighed, "_Are_ you having relapses?" he asked.

She turned her back on him and walked across the room, her silent footsteps revealing that she was not wearing shoes.

Folding his arms, Demyx frowned deeply, "You _are_ aren't you?"

"I've been coming back from them," she defended, folding her arms on her chest, which was so un-endowed that she didn't need a bra, and only her long hair and dresses kept her from looking like a very pretty boy.

Narrowing his eyes at her, Demyx folded his arms, "Kosuiko," he stated in a warning tone, "Do I have to point out what would happen to me if you had a relapse and I didn't know you were having them and didn't get here in time to bring you back?"

She hunched her shoulders, "Why should I care? I've got no heart."

"Now you're being childish," Demyx pointed out, "I don't have a heart either, but I've _decided_ to care about you."

Still, she didn't look at him, "Only because I'm your job. What does it matter if I die, you're likely going to sacrifice me in the end anyway. And afterwards, you won't miss me, because you don't really care."

With a sigh, Demyx spread his hands, then thumped his fists on his hips, "Kosuiko," he called as she started off again, heading to the other side of the room, to her _'leave me alone'_ corner.

"Kosuiko," he said again, "I brought a guitar- you said you wanted to learn how to play it." The girl didn't answer, just crouched in her corner with her back towards him, arms wrapped around her knees. It was childish, he knew, but then, her only social contact had been him and Xemnas and Demyx pretty much let her do whatever she wanted as long as she behaved for Xemnas. Picking up the guitar and book, Demyx sighed, heading over to the bed, setting them down on the covers. "Alright," he stated, "fine. I'll be back in an hour."

With that, he left. In determined strides, Demyx headed back out though the secret passage and into the neglected room. Muttering under his breath, Demyx headed off to find something to do for an hour, slamming the door to the room shut behind him as he stepped out into the hall.

Grinning Reno stood from behind the chair he'd ducked behind as Demyx came out unexpectedly. "So," he stated with a chuckle. "Let's find out what you've got hidden in there?" He paused, "I hope it's not just a music room or something stupid like that, though." Turning, Reno headed over to the bookshelf, pulled out the misplaced book, hit the button, put the book back correctly, and headed over to the door.

* * *

Demyx sighed, letting his fingers find their own way across the strings of his sitar. After all, why did he need to pay attention to them when they were finding the right sounds to give the balcony a lovely atmosphere of utter loneliness.

Not that Demyx could actually feel lonely.

However, the situation reminded him of the times he'd used to feel lonely, so he supposed he would have been lonely if he could feel anything at all.

"Why do I even _want_ my heart back if all I would feel would be loneliness?"

"I dunno," another voice answered as a dark portal opened behind him and Xigbar stepped out, taking a seat next to Demyx on the Ledge of Despair, which was on the opposite side of the Castle from the great views of Kingdom Hearts, which made this side of the Castle great for being alone in.

Except people still tended to be able to find you there anyway.

Pulling a face, the blonde cast Xigbar a dirty look as the gunman noisily chewed on an éclair, then blinking, offered a bite of the already gnawed-on sugar bomb. "No thanks," Demyx muttered. "What're you here for? I thought you were on a mission?"

Xigbar shook his head and swallowed before answering, reaching into his pocket with his other hand to pull out a flask of brandy, which he unscrewed carefully and took a swig, offering some of _that_ to Demyx as well. "I got my part of the mission done," he stated. "Found Hades, now Xemnas is making the deals with him to get the other four princes out of the slam. You sure you don't want any? It's from Reno's stash."

Demyx stared, "Reno's? He's gonna be pissed when he finds it missing," the blonde pointed out.

Snorting, Xigbar knocked back another swallow of the brandy and took a bite of his éclair, speaking around it, "Nah, I snuck into his room while he was attending to Her Hideousness and stuck one of his empty bottles in its place. He'll just think he drank it. I gotta say, the guy doesn't strike me as having much taste, but this is some good stuff!"

Rolling his eyes with a gusty sigh, Demyx turned his attention back out towards the Dark City that sprawled below the Castle. "I wish I could die," he stated.

This only made Xigbar laugh, choke on his éclair and start coughing, dribbling éclair bits over the side of the ledge.

"Please... don't say things like that."

As one, both Demyx and Xigbar looked back.

The soft breeze in the eternal night played in her hip length cinnamon hair that fell straight and unbound except for a pair of clips holding it out of her brilliant ocean blue eyes. She brushed small hands across the front of her black silk and lace dress. Blood marred her left cheek from a cut at her temple and her wrists had darkening bruises on them.

Demyx scrambled to his feet, noticing first that she was _there_ and she shouldn't have been able to leave her room, and second, the bruises and blood, "You're hurt-" he started, coming forward, holding his sitar in one hand. She flinched back.

"I... I'm okay," she whispered softly, pulling her arms in to grasp her shoulders, trying to hide the rips and tears in her dress.

"Woah-ho, Demyx, who is this?" Xigbar asked, having finally recovered his wits and standing, his long coat flapping in the downdraft over the side of the ledge. Squinting at the girl, the gunman frowned, "Wait a minute!" he gasped finally, "She looks just like that-"

"Xigbar!" Demyx interrupted, "Hush."

"Sora," she interrupted.

Blanching, the sitar player looked back at her, finding tears in her eyes as she lifted them to meet his gaze, which she rarely did. "I look like Sora," she stated, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Grinding his teeth briefly, Demyx took a breath, then replied, "Because- Sora's trouble and I didn't want you to be hurt. Who hurt you? Who told you about Sora?"

Lowering her gaze, she whispered, "A man... He... he grabbed me and... touched me like you do and I didn't want him to, but he..." bursting into tears, she stepped forward, putting her face against Demyx's chest. "He called me 'Kaiyou'."

Desperately, she clutched the front of his jacket, "Demyx!" she pleaded, lifting her eyes, "Please- I – I want to know... who is Sora? What is he? What is he to _me_? I want to know who I am! Do you know?" Tears cascaded down her cheeks as she shook his coat hard enough to rock him.

Trembling in his boots, Demyx could only shake his head.

"Well now," Xigbar mused, stepping forward as he finished off his éclair, "I guess we could tell her a few things..."

Eyes widening, Demyx looked at him, "Are you mad? Xemnas didn't want her knowing anything! He'll have my _hide_ for a throw rug if he finds out she got out!"

"So that's why he put _you_ in charge of keeping her?" the gunman sneered and Demyx blushed, "How long has she been here? How long have you been hiding her from the rest of us?" Looking away, Demyx didn't answer. "It's a good thing Marluxia didn't find her. Or Roxas and Axel for that matter." Looming at Demyx, the gunman stated, "So how about it? Let's have a regular exchange of information?"

Grinding his teeth as Demyx had second thoughts, _'Maybe I haven't lost my heart completely, because I sure as hell am afraid of Xemnas finding out about this!'_

Abruptly, she pushed away from him, stepping back several paces and stated. "I want to know what's going on!" she said in a very childish tone, "I'm not gonna behave until you tell me!"

Wincing, Demyx looked away, only to meet Xigbar's gaze. _'Oh... heck.' _Instead of immediately answering, Demyx licked his lips and asked, "Uh, tell me first how you got out of your room?"

"A man with red hair came in just after you left," she replied. "He asked me who I was, I told him you call me Kosuiko. He asked me why I'm here, I told him that I don't know, Xemnas wants me for something. He told me I was going with him to meet someone-"

"You didn't go _with_ him, did you?" Demyx wailed, clutching his hair in dismay.

Eyes watering, she stared at him for a moment, "I wanted to see! You never take me outside! He said he was supposed to be there!"

Scrubbing his face, Demyx muttered obscenities under his breath. "Alright- okay, so you went with him. Then what?"

"He said his name was Reno. He seemed very nice, he took me down the hall, but then a man with black hair stopped us and ...and he called me Kaiyou, and he told Reno to go away and he grabbed me and then everything went black for a few seconds and I was in another room where... he..." she pressed her hands down against the front of her skirt, tears pouring down her cheeks, "I don't want anyone touching me there. Ever! Ever again! It hurt!"

Wincing, Demyx reached for her, but she stepped back, eyes wide as she stared at his face. "Kosuiko- I've never hurt you before," he pointed out.

Sniffling as she wiped her face with both hands, she stepped back again, "You- your face," she whispered.

Xigbar snorted, "She's got a point, Dem. You look pissed."

"If I had a heart, I certainly _would_ be!" Demyx snapped, rounding on Xigbar to jab a finger into the man's nose, "As for you- you're not to say a word of this to anyone else. She's supposed to be a secret!" Eyes crossing, Xigbar stared first at the finger, then looked towards Demyx again, expression highly unconvinced. "I may not be the best fighter, but I've learned enough of Axel and Roxas's pranks to know how to make your non-life miserable. Now, we have to go report to Xemnas and find out who else saw Kosuiko."

Stalking up to her, he grabbed her arm before she could back away.

Gasping in pain, she stared up at him, eyes going wide as something unfamiliar happened.

Her chest tightened as her heart beat faster and fingers went cold. She had no name for this sudden affliction, but it drove her to yank her arm away from him as she shouted, "I don't want to go back!" With that, she turned to run away as hard and fast as she could.

* * *

Panting, she stumbled over the edge of her dress for the millionth time and collapsed to the white floor, breaking into a fresh flood of tears at the pain. Her lungs were burning, she had a stitch in her side, and her legs hurt. She'd never run so much before!

Worst of all, though, was the fact that she was completely and utterly lost.

"Hey..." a voice called to her left and she turned slightly, looking over, then up to find a redheaded girl in a sky-blue front zipped sundress and pink two-piece bathing suit.

Kneeling, the redheaded girl peered out between the bars of the cell she was in and smiled slightly, "Hey, what's wrong?"

Lowering her hands from her face, she eyed the girl behind the bars, wary now. The last few strangers she'd met had done terrible things to her... but then again, the last few strangers had been men, so maybe a woman would treat her differently? "Who are you?" she asked instead. "Demyx calls me Kosuiko." She said this because the man with black hair had called her 'Kaiyou' and Xemnas called her 'Girl' and Reno hadn't called her anything at all.

The redheaded girl smiled and replied, "I'm Kairi." The warmth in Kairi's expression gave the girl in black an odd sensation in her chest. Placing a hand there, she narrowed her eyes slightly as she contemplated this warmth, then decided it wasn't painful, therefore, it was good, or at least okay.

Desperate for someone to cling to, she crept across the white floor, her tattered skirt trailing lace like snakes behind her, "I- I'm lost," she admitted, leaning close to look at Kairi's face, and blinked as she briefly saw a blonde looking back at her.

That was when a giant mouse in red shorts approached, looking her over with an expression of confusion, "Gosh," the mouse stated, "She looks like Sora." He then paused, staring at her for another long moment, almost as if he wanted to ask something.

Eyes widening, the girl leaned closer, "You know Sora too?" she asked, "I- I'm trying to find him!" she told Kairi and the mouse. "No one will tell me anything!" lifting a hand, she wiped her face with the back of it.

Reaching through the bars, Kairi placed a hand on the girl's cheek, wiping away her tears. "I know Sora. He's one of my best friends. You look a lot like him... do you know why?"

"No - why?" the girl asked, eyes wide as she decided that she _liked_ this Kairi.

Kairi laughed and shook her head, "I was asking you. I guess you don't. You think you could help us? We need to go find Sora too, but we can't get out of here."

Biting her lower lip, the girl looked around, "I – I'm not sure," she said softly. "I'll try?" she offered and turned a smile on Kairi and the mouse, then blinked, pointing at the mouse, "Who're you?"

Laughing the mouse replied, "I'm Mickey. It's nice to meet you, Kosuiko."

With a nod, the girl stood, looking around carefully. Turning, she walked up and down the wall, searching for something – anything – that would open that cell. However, nothing was in evidence...

"Kosuiko," Kairi called, "Can't you open a portal?"

Turning, the girl dashed back to Kairi and asked, "A portal?"

The redhead nodded, "A portal of darkness," Kairi repeated.

For a very long moment, the brunet pondered that, shifting from one bare foot to the other, "I... I've never tried," she admitted, lifting a hand to nibble on her nails briefly. Casting a smile at Kairi and Mickey, the girl stepped back, "I'll try!" she announced and frowned in thought as she tried to think of how this dark portal thing could be opened.

That was when she recalled the man with black hair - how he'd held up his hand and the darkness had opened in front of him. "Oh!" she gasped, then smiled. Turning away she lifted a hand and narrowed her eyes. "Open sez me!" she announced... Nothing happened. "Um..." bringing her hand close to her face, she stared at her palm. Looking over at Kairi with a cheerful smile, she said, "I'll try again."

Biting her lower lip, she raised her arm again, willing with all her might for the air to split and reveal darkness. Closing her eyes, she ground her teeth. "Open!" she whined at it.

"Kosuiko!" Mickey called, "You did it!"

Her eyes flying open, she was just in time to see Mickey and Kairi come dashing out of a black portal. It closed immediately behind them as she lost concentration. "Good job, Kosuiko!" Kairi sad as she came to a stop in front of the taller girl, "You really do look a lot like Sora," she added, then shook her head.

Mickey was already on the move, Keyblade drawn as he headed down the hall, "Let's go! Before someone comes!"

Reaching out her hand, Kairi waited, still standing in front of the girl. "We're going to go find Sora, will you come with us?"

Biting her lips, the girl looked around the dungeons for a moment, then finally nodded with a bright smile, placing her hand into Kairi's. "Okay!"

Tightening her hold on the girl, Kairi nodded, "Let's go!" Turning, she started off, the girl running a step behind and to the side, holding up her black silk and lace skirt with the other hand.

* * *

Softly, Xemnas chuckled, "So... she got away."

Demyx swallowed hard, knowing that he was _not_ going to like Xemnas's punishment for this unforgivable blunder. He trembled, not out of fear, but out of dread. Xemnas linked his hands behind his back as he slowly walked around the large room, often called the Hall of Lost Hope, even though half of the roof was celestial windows that gave a lovely view of Kingdom Hearts.

"So she got away..." Xemnas repeated, "With that bloody mouse king and the twit of a princess..."

Silently mouthing the words as he bowed his head, Demyx replied, "Yes sir..."

"Good."

Head snapping up, Demyx stared at Xemnas, eyes wide.

"But-"

Turning so sharply the ends of his coat snapped, Xemnas stalked across the room to Demyx. Before the blonde could blink, his Superior had a hand around his throat, "Here are your orders, Number Nine. Listen carefully, and do not fail!"

Eyes wide, Demyx clutched at Xemnas's wrist, staring into the Nobody's gaze, hypnotized as a mouse before the cobra. "Find Riku and make sure he meets the girl." Leaning in closer, Xemnas smirked, "Then, keep watch, but do not let her meet Sora." Stopping when their noses were nearly touching, Xemnas finished, "You'd beter _not_ screw up this time, Demyx. For if you do... another death will be the least of your worries."

Releasing him, Xemnas stepped back and turned way as Demyx staggered a step, hands lifting to his throat. "Yes...sir..." the blonde whispered and turned, exiting the room as quickly as possible. Stepping out into the hall, he closed the door behind him with a sigh and leaned against it, feeling weak in the knees.

_'Does that mean he'd meant for her to get out?'_ Demyx had to ask himself, keeping his mouth closed on those words, for he wasn't alone in the long hall that lead to Xemnas's 'office'.

"Dude," Xigbar said as he approached, dropping a hand on Demyx's shoulder. "You're still alive."

"Coward," Demyx hissed, "You ditched me!"

Spreading his hands with a shrug, the gunman replied, "Yeah, so? I don't feel guilty for it! Haha-" his jaw snapped shut as he caught Demyx's expression. "Heh...heh...ah, anyway..."

Pushing off the door, Demyx straightened and snapped a hand forward, catching Xigbar's coat, yanking him close, "You're coming with me," he stated.

Immediately objecting at this treatment, Xigbar called, "Hey- hey! Vexen is your partner! You can't just leave that traitor unattended!"

Highly annoyed, Demyx's grip tightened, "What kind of trouble could that freezer-pop maker get into when he's got that creep Hojo hovering over his shoulder all the time? Besides, I don't think Xemnas wants Vexen involved in this. _You_ on the other hand have already seen her."

Wincing and still trying to pry Demyx's fingers loose, Xigbar scowled, "Ahw, damn it! Fine. If only because I wanna know what the hell is up with her."

At last, Demyx released the other Nobody and straightened, "Good. Let's get going. Have to find out where they went..."

Turning away, he took a step, but a new voice made him pause.

"I know."

Peeking back over his shoulder, Demyx winced as the redhead stepped out of the shadows. "I know which way they went," Reno repeated with a smirk, "I'll tell you... if you let me come along."

"Sure!" Xigbar replied.

"No!" Demyx snapped at the same moment.

Reno grinned. "Alright then, let's get going, buds!" Stepping over, he dropped an arm around Demyx and Xigbar's shoulders and turned partially to leer at Xigbar, "Hmm. That whisky on your breath smells familiar," he observed, eyes going half-lidded.

Xigbar choked.

* * *

_AN: Whew! Got this done in time. Hehe. Now, I need to get around to writing ch47. I've been so lazy lately! Sorry for the cussing in this chapter, but I just... awhell. I guess so long as I don't use the F word. U.U;;; Now... hopefully I can get ch47 done in time. O.o;_

_Next Chapter: Radiant Garden's Delema, and an FF7 recap._


	47. Revelations

_Chapter 47_

_(Revelations)_

"_Hey_!" Yuffie shouted as she slammed open the door to Merlin's house. "Guess who showed up!"

"God _damn it_, Yuffie, what've I told you about slammin' the bloody door?" Cid Highwind shouted at the top of his lungs as he dabbed at the mess of coffee that was now spilled all over his computer keyboard. Hurrying over with a towel, Aerith came to his assistance even as the blonde airship captain continued to rant, "Another keyboard ruined to hell! Do you know how hard it is to find ones with the right connections?"

Laughing, Yuffie ignored him and bounded into the room, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Khimari coming in behind her.

Looking around, Sora's first thought was, "Wow, they added a second story," and with that, he looked up at the loft balcony just as Leon stepped up to it and looked down.

A frown pulled at the gunblade wielder's lips as his bright blue eyes narrowed.

Blinking, Sora pulled back slightly, confused by that rather displeased look the man had given him.

Turning away from the railing, Leon headed for the stairs and shouted, "Enough! Cid, go take a smoke outside."

Getting to his feet abruptly enough to knock over his chair, the airship pilot scowled first at Leon, then turned, stalking towards the door, and coincidentally, towards Sora. Hurriedly, Sora took a step back out of Cid's way as the man stalked up to him. Lifting a hand, Cid grabbed Sora's jaw and turned his head slightly, and confused, Sora stared at the blonde from the corner of his eye. "Huh," Cid grunted and let go, stalking onwards and out the door.

Highly confused, Sora rubbed his chin with one hand and turned back towards Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith. "Ah... right, so how's it goin?"

"You just missed Riku," Leon stated.

Laughing lightly, Sora shrugged, "Yeah. Yuffie told me. I think he and I will catch up to each other soon if he went the way I think he went. Say, I'm looking for a guy that looks like me," he held up a hand a few inches shorter than himself, "Going by the name of Aros. He's with a guy named Laguna-" Sora stopped and stared at Leon, "what's _that_ look for?"

"L- Laguna... Loire?" Leon coughed and cleared his throat, then looked away, "Nothing. Never mind. I don't know him."

Sora's brows drew together, "Loire... I've heard that name- _Oh_!" he gasped and turned towards Donald, "why didn't you _tell me_ that Laguna was _THAT_ Laguna?" he demanded.

Donald stared up at Sora, "What?"

Smacking his forehead with his palm, Sora laughed, "I _knew_ he looked familiar! Laguna's the president!" This announcement was met with stares from everyone else in the room and misunderstanding the looks he was being given, Sora planted his hands on his hips and beamed in self-satisfaction over his epiphany.

Leon coughed behind his hand several times and wheezed, "I think... I need some air." With that, he stumbled past Sora and out the door, closing it behind him. Even so, the sound of his desperate cackling was clearly heard through it.

Dropping his hands to his sides again, Sora blinked, looking around at everyone else, "What's so funny? I don't get it..."

Aerith sniffled and wiped her eyes, having been brought nearly to tears in an effort to not laugh as well, replied, "Don't worry about it, Sora. Would you like some tea?"

Breaking into another grin, Sora nodded, "Sure!" With a smile, Aerith headed over to the lately added kitchen area and began making the tea. Sora, on the other hand, headed over to the stone platform in the center of the room, turned, and hoped up onto it, using it as a seat, "Oh, by the way," he pointed towards the Rhonso, "that's Khimari."

Looking over her shoulder, Aerith smiled, "It's nice to meet you, sir."

Khimari simply rumbled and took a stance by the door, arms folded.

Twirling her way across the room to him, the ninja hopped onto the platform beside Sora. Leaning on one hand, she grinned up at him as the front door opened again and Cid stepped in, obviously calmer now. In fact, he looked a little amused as well. "You really look a lot like Leon, I mean, seeing you two together now, it's really obvious! Are you related?"

Sora had to laugh at that, even as he blushed lightly, looking away, "I wish," he admitted, "Leon's cool." Cid started chuckling but stifled it as he went to his computer to continue cleaning up the mess.

Firmly closing the door behind him, Leon stated, "Yuffie, quit flirting with him."

Jerking, Sora leaned back, only then realizing how close Yuffie had actually _been_. Pouting, the ninja sighed and scooted away slightly, "Aww, you're a real jerk, you know that?" she accused, "First you turn me down, and now you're blocking me from getting with anyone else!"

"He's not your type," Leon stated, folding his arms.

Smirking, she leered towards him, though some of the effect was lost because he was on the other side of the room and likely to stay there if she kept looking at him like that. "How would _you_ know anyway?" Yuffie demanded, then grinned, "My, y_ou're_ acting rather overprotective," she pointed out, "what're you hiding?"

Scowling at her, he replied, "Nothing."

Yuffie rolled her eyes, "Oh _sure_."

"Whatever," Squall muttered.

For a long moment, Sora could only sit and stare at Yuffie, realizing suddenly. "Oh..." he said in a small voice as he recalled the several times that girls had sat _real_ close to him and he'd been unnerved, "That's what they were doing!"

Turning to look at him, Yuffie burst out laughing and flung herself on him, clinging, "You're so cute!" she announced to the room. Her sudden attack put him off balance, and flailing he tried desperately to remain upright, but Yuffie continued to press against him, finally knocking him backwards with her on top. "Yuff! I can't breathe!" he wheezed. At last, she got up, still sniggering at him and Sora slid to his feet, casting a slight smile at her, "Eh... sorry, Yuffie, but um... I think you're too old for me."

Eyes widening, the ninja leapt to her feet, standing on the platform to loom over him, "I'm _what_!" she demanded at the top of her lungs. "I'm only eighteen! How could you say such a thing to me!"

Interceding before things got out of hand, Aerith stepped over with a tray and some teacups on it, "Yuffie, don't be so melodramatic," the young woman in pink murmured as Sora carefully took a cup and saucer from her tray, "He didn't mean it like that and you know it."

Glowering, Yuffie dropped to the floor and took a cup from Aerith's tray and sat. "Aww. Fine. You're right," she peeked at him, "So who is she?"

Jerking back from Yuffie, Sora nearly dumped his tea down his front as he blushed bright crimson. Looking over, Donald and Goofy burst out laughing. "Does her name start with a '_K_'?" Yuffie teased.

This, of course, made Sora blush even more brightly as everyone laughed at him, and despite being incredibly embarrassed, Sora couldn't help but smile as he stammered, "Nope, you're completely wrong. I don't _like_ anyone."

Setting her teacup aside, and scooting in again, Yuffie demanded to know, "So, have you kissed her? When? Where? How?"

"Ahg!" Sora yelped, "I- I couldn't _kiss_ _Kairi_!"

"Ah-ha!" Yuffie leapt to her feet, flailing a finger in the air high above her head as she shouted, "I _knew_ it! Detective Yuffie has cracked the case!"

_"I hate to interrupt the reunion,"_ Tron's voice called from Cid's corner of the room, _"But those Sephroids are making trouble on the east side again."_

Aerith sighed gustily.

Looking around, Sora blinked as Cid, Yuffie, Aerith, and Leon began gathering their weapons. "Huh?" he asked, "What are 'Sephroids'?" he asked, then chugged his still fairly hot tea and set the teacup aside as he got to his feet.

"Follow us and you'll see," Leon replied and headed out the door.

Nodding, Sora jogged after the man, noticing that Leon was only slightly taller than him now - an observation that made him smirk. _'Getting there!'_ Sora thought gleefully.

They stepped out into the street and Leon immediately turned, heading off down the street. "So where're we going?" He asked, jogging to catch up with Leon's longer strides.

"Other side of town," Leon replied shortly, casting a look towards Sora from the corner of his eye.

"Makes you wish you had some sort of air bike or something," Sora said cheerfully.

"Spoiled..." Leon muttered.

Eyes widening, Sora fell behind Leon, "Spoiled?" he demanded, again jogging to catch up before the others overtook him. On that thought, Sora looked back to find everyone else lagging behind quite a ways. Almost as if they were giving Sora and Leon some privacy. What an odd observation.

"Nothing," Leon replied without looking at Sora this time. "You know this is the world Sephiroth was created on?"

Easily distracted, Sora breathed, "Really? I didn't know that!"

Leon simply nodded and remained silent for a time as they jogged through town, Sora occasionally glancing back with a slight frown, "Why're they so far behind?" he wondered out loud, mostly under his breath. Leon, however, didn't feel like answering and Sora was left to his own thoughts, watching the houses pass by.

_'Why didn't I realize that Laguna was...'_

Sora didn't like his thoughts. Seeking a distraction, he turned to Leon again and asked, "Why don't you guys build a public transport system of some sort?"

"It's next on our list," Leon admitted as they rounded another corner and came to the market – just as dark bubbles formed and popped amidst the crowd.

Keyblade coming to his hands, Sora leapt into action, taking out the first shadow to drop to the ground in front of him. Chaos broke loose in the square as innocent shoppers were attacked out of the blue. Desperately, they began running in all directions, trying to get away from the monsters that had suddenly appeared. "This has to be a distraction!" Leon shouted as he swung his gunblade in a hard slash that sliced a Heartless in half. He followed that by swinging around and shooting another in the head.

"Sora, come with me. Everyone else, clean up!" Leon shouted his order and without a second thought, Sora followed the man as he forged his way across the square, leaving the others behind to take care of the Heartless.

* * *

Laguna sighed and thumped his head back against the wall behind him, legs stretched out in front, toes pointed towards the ceiling. "I hope Aros is okay..." he muttered into the quiet of the cell he was sharing with a blonde who sat in the other corner, stony silent, legs crossed arms folded on his chest, scowling at the floor. 

He'd been in here for several hours already and his body-clock said it was nearing dinner time.

"So..." Laguna said louder, speaking to his companion for the first time since arriving. He'd spent the first few hours shouting for the guard, claiming that the arrest was a mistake and begging someone to talk to Dagger about the whole mess. No one had listened. They'd apparently thought he was raving mad or something. Now, he sat on the floor across from his silent companion as night rolled around, wondering how the heck he was going to get out _this_ time. There weren't any convenient Moombas around, after all. Or Ward or Kiros for that matter.

"I'm Laguna," he introduced, "what's your name?"

Silence fell for a moment as the man across the small cell lifted his head slightly, bright blue eyes glowing faintly in the dim light. "Cloud," the man admitted.

Pulling his knees in, Laguna put the soles of his feet together and leaned forward, "So what're you in for?"

"Same thing as you," Cloud muttered, "Looking suspicious."

Despite the situation, the president-turned-mage burst out laughing, "The guards _are_ rather jumpy, but then again, Dagger _is_ being crowned and only just got back. So I guess I can't blame them." He sighed, "But I really need to go find Aros."

"I've already tried getting out," Cloud stated.

Pursing his lips, Laguna asked, "But did you try the 'one of us is sick' trick?" Cloud gave Laguna a long hard and rather cold look. "I'll be the sick one?" the mage offered.

Still, Cloud shook his head, "They're not that stupid," he stated.

Collapsing back against the wall, Laguna rolled his eyes. "Then when's dinner coming?"

"I don't know. I got here this morning."

"Agh! You're no help at all!" Laguna accused. "I can't leave my daughter out there by herself!"

Cloud frowned once more - it seemed the closest he could come to a smile was having his lips in a flat line. "How old is she?"

"Sixteen," Laguna replied.

The blonde snorted, apparently no longer interested. "I joined the army at that age."

Lifting a fist, Laguna took a breath to snap something, then sighed, dropping his hand, "I did too," he admitted. "But she... she needs me."

For a long moment, silence fell between them except for the sound of water dripping somewhere in the darkness. Like some sort of water torture, making Laguna highly aware of the fact that the toilet was a hole in the floor in the middle of the room and more than aware of the fact that needed to take a piss.

"So where are you from?" Laguna asked to cover the sound of the water.

"Radiant Garden," Cloud answered blandly, as if he didn't expect Laguna to know where it was or what it was.

"Ohh!" Laguna grinned, "My eldest son moved there! He sends letters sometimes. Not to me, but my wife sends the ones he sends her on to me."

Cloud's glowing blue eyes stared at him for a very long and uncomfortable moment before the man's shoulders started shaking. Bending forward over his knees in laughter that almost sounded pained, Cloud's cackling echoed off the walls.

"I take it Squall's talked about me?" Laguna asked cheerfully.

Finally recovering enough to speak, Cloud shook his head, "No, not really, but I think I know why."

Rolling his eyes, Laguna sighed gustily, "Yeah, I know, I'm an embarrassment and he can't believe I supplied half his DNA. He's far too serious, really! A boy his age should live a little! So his first love died. Mine did too, and so did my second, you just have to keep trying. After all, Raine would kick my butt if I just gave up!" Heaving a sigh, Laguna rolled to his feet and began limping around the small room, trying to get the cramp to let loose in his leg.

"So how'd you end up on this world?" Cloud asked, finally initiating a conversation for once.

Looking over, Laguna grinned, "Saving the universe, one world at a time!" Pausing, he sighed, "Actually, I'm just kind of following my daughter around while she runs away from her brother who doesn't even remember he had a sister."

Cloud looked confused.

Taking a breath, Laguna thumped his hands on his hips and turned to face the blonde, "Have you met a boy named Sora?"

Jerking back, Cloud knocked his head against the wall and cursed, gripping the back of his head, "You- You're saying Sora's ... Leon's _brother_?" Cloud demanded, peering up at Laguna, mouth opened still.

Grinning in a very cheeky way, the mage nodded, "Sure am! I don't know where Squall learned to be so depressive, maybe he got it from his mother. Sora took after me, though."

"No kidding..."

"Then again, Aros is rather dour a lot of the time, too..." Laguna mused, "Hm, I dunno where she got it from, though." Shrugging, he turned back towards Cloud, "So how'd _you_ get here?"

Sighing after rubbing the back of his head a moment more, Cloud replied, "Looking for Sephiroth."

Laguna stretched his leg out to the side, wincing as the cramp still refused to let go and asked, "Who's Sephiroth?"

Cloud looked slightly irritated now, but sighed as he said, "Sephiroth is a genetically altered bastard, created by the Shinra Company that used to rule Radiant Garden before Sephiroth killed the president and tried to destroy the world by summoning Meteor."

"Well, that's a silly thing to do," Laguna commented, "If he wanted to suicide, all he had to do was shoot himself in the head or something."

"Sephiroth is already dead."

Laguna blinked, "You're kidding!"

Leaning forward, he peered at Cloud as the blonde solemnly nodded. "I killed him. I've killed him six times and he just won't die."

Abruptly sitting down, Laguna grunted, "Dang. That's one nasty dude, what _is_ he?"

Cloud snorted, "Other than a parasite? He's pure darkness. One of these days, I'm going to destroy him completely. He _will_ become a memory, and I will be able to forget at last."

"Hm," Laguna murmured, "What'd he do that makes you hate him so much?"

Again, silence fell as Cloud looked away. Heaving a sigh, Laguna flipped a hand, "Alright, okay, never mind then. Geez, you're a lot like Squall."

Abruptly turning back to face Laguna, Cloud scowled, "Sephiroth destroyed my hometown," he stated, "He controlled me, and nearly made me kill someone I care about. When I didn't do it, he killed her in front of me and laughed about it. He tried to destroy the world _she_ cared about. Then when, when we thought he and that parasite he was created from were gone, they came back, sucking the will to live out of everyone, destroying my life again. He succeeded in destroying Radiant Garden, sending it into the Darkness four years ago, and now he's trying to do it again and I can't get back there because I'm stuck in here." _With you._

Wincing, Laguna leaned back, "Ah, yeah," he said slowly, "Yeah, I think that guy needs his head chopped off." The mage nodded to himself, folding his arms on his chest, "I'm willing to help, if you need it."

The blonde didn't look the least bit convinced that the aging man would be any help at all. With a sigh, Cloud leaned back against the wall behind him, folding his arms once more as he fell into silent, frowning thought. Laguna pouted for a few seconds, then got to his feet again to pace as he waited for something to happen that would give them the chance to escape.

* * *

Kaiyou stared hard at Puck. 

"That's it," she stated and stood from where she'd been sitting on the cobblestone floor of a partially ruined church bell tower. The room was round, the walls made of mossy stone, the ceiling a story and a half tall. In the center of the room was a stone tube that led up to the roof where the bell was, inside, a ladder was leaned against the wall. She didn't know why they were here, but it was irritating her that they were and Puck had been trying for hours to get her to buy something for him to eat, but she'd stoutly refused.

"I don't owe you anything. I don't need your help," she told the rat boy as she turned and stalked towards the door, which was lacking any sort of real door, the wood having rotted off long ago.

Leaping to his feet, Puck flailed, "Aros!" Jogging after her, he threw his arms around her in an attempt to stop her, "Ar-..." his right hand squeezed what he'd unexpectedly grabbed.

Flushing crimson, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end as an unexpected terror welled through her, Kaiyou jerked away from him and landed a hard punch across his jaw. Like a sack of potatoes, he fell to the ground. Knees turning to jelly, she collapsed to the floor, arms wrapped around her shoulders, head bowed.

"Geez!" Puck cursed, slowly sitting up, clutching his jaw as he spoke between clenched teeth, "You didn't have to deck me!" Pausing, he stared at her, "Look- hey! Stop crying- ah! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to grab that! I thought you were a guy!"

Lifting her head, she wiped her eyes with the back of one hand, "Well, I'm not! So keep your hands off me or I'll break them!" she threatened. Even though she knew he hadn't meant it, the feeling of someone touching her there... _'Oh god... Umi, this is another thing I don't remember, isn't it?'_ The thought made her sick, and the feeling of something on the verge of coming back to her was festering in the back of her mind. It wasn't fully triggered just yet, but it would, she knew, and likely soon. She wasn't sure she wanted to remember this one, though.

Umi didn't answer, though, and Kaiyou was left sitting in silence with Puck, who was still nursing his bruised jaw and glowering at her. "Well, you could have told me!" he snapped.

"You didn't ask!" Kaiyou shouted back. Getting to her feet, she turned, intending to leave him again, "You've wasted enough of my time."

Dashing forward, Puck dodged in front of her, standing in the doorway, blocking her exit, "Wait! Listen, I had my reasons. The guards are real edgy lately – I heard that Princess Garnet went missing and they've been trying to keep it quiet, so just breaking into the dungeon in broad daylight is impossible! There's supposed to be a ball tonight, so all the guards will be there. We have to wait till night falls."

Scowling at him, Kaiyou stated, "Well, I don't want to wait." It was already sunset. _'I never noticed how much I like him,'_ she observed to Umi, _'I – I feel lost without him!'_

Again, there was no answer and Kaiyou was left to turn her attention back to Puck before he noticed that her eyes were drifting in and out of focus as she directed her thoughts from him to Umi and back. Puck sighed, "Alright, fine. It's your skin, I ain't following you in there."

"You still owe me a favor," Kaiyou pointed out.

"Yeah, but getting to know where Vivi has been lately isn't worth getting killed over!" Puck objected, "I'll show you to the tunnel and you can find the way yourself. It's pretty much a straight shot."

She scowled at him, "You owe me more than information," Kaiyou pointed out, "You could have given me that hours ago. You would have risked your skin to get me into the palace to see Garnet, so what's the difference here? Besides, you just molested me! You think I'm going to forgive you for that right off the bat?"

"But- you look like a guy, I mean, seriously!" Puck whined, backing up a step, as if his raised hands could stop her should she decide to beat the crap out of him. "I guess... you _do_ need an escort," Puck sighed gustily. "A girl can't go in there alone."

While she didn't like his implied insult, Kaiyou bit her tongue, for she did indeed want company on this dangerous adventure, and Puck was her only option. "Hey now," Puck said with a grin, "No need to get your panties in a wad."

Turning away, Kaiyou folded her arms, _'I don't need him,'_ she told herself. "Never mind," she told him, "Just show me the place and get out of my life."

Puck sniggered and stepped past her again, heading towards the ladder that led up to the roof. "This way, princess."

"You call me that again and I'm gonna castrate you," Kaiyou threatened, which made Puck pause and look back at her, his large rat ears folding down as he realized that she was completely serious.

Clearing his throat, he turned and hopped onto the ladder, skittering up it quickly. Kaiyou glowered and followed behind, hoping that Puck was leading her in the correct direction, because she was going to be downright ticked if he wasn't. She wanted Laguna! He made her feel safe and protected. Even if he couldn't aim worth crap, he was still there to stand at her back in a fight and she really missed him, even if they'd only been apart for a few hours.

_'I can't abandon a friend in his time of need! I've got so few of them, after all. I hope he doesn't get pissed at me about how long it took for me to come save him...'_ she worried as she climbed the ladder and stepped out onto the roof. Puck was already at the edge, standing next to a board that spanned the gap between the church and the building next door. Scampering across it quickly, he turned and called back, "The trick is to go quickly and not look down!"

Scowling at him, she boldly strode across the narrow board, "I'm well aware," she told him once she reached his side, "quit treating me like I'm a wuss and get going."

Folding his ears down again, Puck huffed, flipping his tail as he thumped his fists on his hips, "Fine," he muttered.

"If it makes you feel better, just forget what happened and go back to thinking I'm a guy," Kaiyou stated, "It's easier that way."

Lifting his chin, Puck snorted, "So you do it on purpose!"

"Protection," Kaiyou stated. _'From what...?'_ her stomach knotted.

Turning away, the rat kid headed on to the next board, jogging across it quickly. Kaiyou shook her head to clear the cobwebs from her mind and followed, walking quickly but carefully across the roofs. It was much like what she'd used to do to get away from gangs when they chased her... That thought made her feel even more sick. _'Concentrate on something else!'_ she told herself, _'Ohh, Umi! Where are you?'_

Now that she thought on it, Kaiyou realized that Umi hadn't said a word since that memory of Louis had returned to her.

That... was a very worrying thing indeed.

_'Laguna, concentrate on finding Laguna!'_ Kaiyou ordered herself and narrowed her focus on Puck's flailing tail ahead of her.

* * *

"Man, talk about weird," Axel muttered, scratching the back of his head as he gazed around. The town was really quite nice, decorated with streamers strung across the streets high above their heads. Banners proclaiming 'Long Live Queen Garnet' were hung from windows and balconies, and scattered throughout town were food booths and talent shows and fair games. It was a circus. 

_'Complete with animal people,'_ Roxas thought, trying to hide his slight irritation as he had to dodge another fat hippo-man as he waddled down the street, not wanting to play a game of chicken with a creature that large. Sure, Roxas figured he'd win against the man in a fight, but he didn't want to fight here.

"So," Axel continued, "How're we going to find Aros in a zoo like this?"

With a gusty sigh, Roxas replied, "I really don't know. It's not like I brought a picture of Sora with me or anything."

Axel shrugged, "You and Sora look a lot alike," he observed.

"Yeah," was the blonde haired kid's clipped answer.

Silence fell between them as they wound their way through the streets as the sunlight faded, the day turning into dusk. "Man," Axel muttered, "all this food's starting to make me hungry."

Smirking, Roxas glanced at Axel, "I think I saw a calamari stand back a little ways."

Eyes widening, Axel turned to face him, looming in close, "Calamari?" he breathed, "Where?"

Roxas grinned and turned, "this way," he stated and started off, Axel excitedly dancing behind him. So what if Axel couldn't really _feel_ anything, all the more reason to indulge in the needs and cravings of the body. That's all a Nobody had, anyway. It was why Roxas had no qualms about spending munny on Axel's calamari obsession, though he did hope that it wouldn't cost too much. Back in Destiny Islands, calamari was quite cheap, but Roxas didn't know how close to the sea they were here.

Locating the stall he'd seen, Roxas stepped up to it, Axel crowding behind. "Hey," the man at the stall said. He was a giant rat. "How can I help you?"

"You can help by giving this lout some squid," Roxas replied, jerking a thumb at Axel who was drooling at the calamari, "Before he sets something on fire."

"I wouldn't!" Axel objected.

Snorting, Roxas replied, "I know you too well," he replied as he pulled out his pouch of munny and hoped that it wouldn't cost as much as watermelon at the beach.

The rat man, finally figuring out that Roxas was partially joking, began bagging some of his wares and handed it to Axel, "That'll be fifteen munny."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Roxas handed over the munny. "Good, now the town is safe from arson."

Axel grumped, around a mouthful of calamari, "Fire is pretty though! Maybe I should set something on fire, just for the heck of it?"

"And if you do, I'll kick your butt," Roxas threatened, "I'd rather not get arrested here." Axel sniggered, but abruptly stopped as something hit him on the head.

While Axel first looked down at the ground to see what it was that had hit him and found nothing more unusual than a piece of terracotta tile, Roxas looked up. "There he is!" the blonde gasped and pointed upwards as Aros reached the other side of the gap over the street, having carefully trotted across the gulf on a long board that spanned the gap between one roof and the next.

Hand shooting out, Roxas grabbed Axel by the arm before the redhead could move, "We can't just go chasing after him, Axel!"

Pausing, the redhead frowned, "So what should we do?" he asked, reaching into his bag to pull out another piece of roasted calamari.

"...Follow until we can find a place to 'accidentally' meet him?" Roxas suggested lamely. "Let's go through the streets though. I don't think we could pretend we're doing anything else up on the roofs."

Axel nodded agreement to that and turning, the two of them headed off through the crowd, trying to catch up and keep sight of Aros and his rat kid friend.

"Wonder where Laguna is?" Roxas had to ask, though he did so under his breath.

* * *

_AN: yay! Got it done in time. Heh... don't kill me! I know I left not one but 3 cliffhangers here. It's just, the chapter was already nine pages long – ten actually with this author's note and one line that goes over from the actual chapter – so I decided that I'd leave it here just so you'd review and tell me how mean I am. LOL  
__Oh, and by the way, this chapter contained my one bout of self gratifying character bashing: Rinoa is dead! And yes, this does make sense for me because... well, I like tormenting the characters I LIKE, so if I spent any time at all on her, you might think I liked her or something. She serves the purpose of love interest for Squall quite well, and I admit that, but she can also serve her purpose from the grave and I wouldn't have to bother trying writing her and do any sort of a good job. Besides, this makes Squall ANGSTY! Yay, Angst! Similarly, I don't much like Yuffie or Rikku, but they're already in the KH games, so I can't just write them out. But Rinoa... hehe. Another person who won't be appearing in this fic is Cait Sith. Don't ask where he is, because then I'd have to make up something, and I don't want to.  
__If any of my readers are on **Livejournal**, I'm **Demonicfangirl**. Or checkout **Sorapants** if you wanna read crack KH2 rp type stuff. Lol._

_Next Chapter: The Great Escape – backwards! Can they get into jail without being caught or will they have to suffer the consequences of Kaiyou's sudden sprouting of a backbone?_


	48. Break Out Into Battle!

_Chapter 48_

_(Break Out – Into Battle!)_

"Shi...h," Roxas hissed under his breath, though Axel had obviously heard what he'd been about to say and had given the shorter half-Nobody a stern look. _'The hypocrite...'_ he thought acidly, then turned back to looking up at the large stone wall that blocked further progress.

The two of them had been quite careful, following Aros through the streets while the copy followed the rat-boy across the rooftops. Meanwhile, it had begun to get darker and darker, making it harder to see the two of them. While that hid Axel and Roxas and made it even less obvious that they were following, the setting sun also made it difficult to see Sora's copy-cat. And now, they were out of sight completely, having reached the wall that separated the castle grounds from the city.

It was a very tall wall, Roxas observed, craning his neck to stare up at the top. "Only way we'd get up there is if we went across the roofs," Axel stated, hands on his hips as he bent backwards slightly, "Hm, nice clear sky tonight," he added as an afterthought.

With a sigh, Roxas focused his eyes on the sky and not the impenetrable wall blocking his path. "Yeah," he agreed to both of his companion's statements. "Bugger," slumping forward, the blonde let his head hang for a moment before shaking it and straightening. "Alright..." peeking slyly at Axel, Roxas asked, "what would _you _do?"

"Me?" Axel grunted, "I'd stake out somewhere and wait for them to show up again. Then again, that guy Aros was supposed to be with isn't here anymore, and neither is the girl, so maybe they're somewhere in town and would know what's going on. It's up to you, Rox."

Snorting, Roxas shook his head, "I think I know which one you're partial to," he replied.

Turning to look at Roxas, Axel flashed a grin, "Of course my vote's for finding somewhere to get some dinner and ask around!" He gave a cheerful thumbs-up, which made Roxas laugh.

"Alright, mister Turk," Roxas turned, starting off down the street, "sniff us out a good place to eat. I'm starving."

Silence fell, and Roxas stopped, realizing that Axel wasn't behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he found his friend standing where he'd been left, looking dumbstruck. "What? You think I'm as dense as Sora? Of course I figured it out. I know you, Axel! The way you refused to talk about Reno told me far more than anything you could have just said."

Looking down and aside, Axel shifted, "Yeah," he admitted, "I guess I am a bit obvious." Taking a breath, he lifted his chin and smiled slightly, stepping forward and coming to stand beside Roxas in the starlight, "Oh well," he shrugged. "You know the worst now."

"So now you'll answer my questions?" Roxas asked and started walking again, Axel beside him still. The redhead nodded. "Alright. First off, what's a Turk?"

Licking his lips, Axel paused to collect his thoughts, "The Turks are a special ops force... Were, I guess. Cloud and his bunch destroyed the Company. Erh. I'm getting ahead of myself. It was six years ago that Radiant Garden was ruled by a company called ShinRa, they were an electricity company, but supplied everything to the people under it's rule, from transportation to water and practically anything else under the sun. If you didn't work for ShinRa, you were unemployed, pretty much. Maybe... maybe the company could have worked," Axel shrugged slightly, "Except people, being people, eventually started to rebel against the oppression. A group called Avalanche started doing terrorist tactics, trying to shut the company down by bombing the Mako reactors-"

"Wait- woah," Roxas interrupted. "What's a Mako reactor?"

Lifting a hand, Axel scratched the back of his head, "Well uh. You know, it's like this... When something is born, its soul comes from somewhere, right? Well, it comes from the Planet. And when a thing dies, its soul goes back to the Planet, and when that's magnified across the entire planet, that movement of souls is called the Lifestream. Shinra's pet scientists called it Mako and Shinra's pet mechanics realized how they could harness Mako and turn it into electricity..."

Slowly, Roxas nodded, glancing around the dimly lit street. The party was still going on, but the crowd had thinned considerably since Axel and Roxas's arrival. Most of the crowds had gone indoors for food and drink and other sorts of entertainments that Roxas didn't want to think about because most of the people of this town were giant bipedal animals. "Okay, I understand now," he admitted when he realized that Axel was waiting for him to respond somehow. "So Avalanche was blowing up the power plants. What happened then? How were the Turks involved?"

"Yeah," Axel agreed, "And so well, the Turks were around pretty much since the Company went world wide, but they weren't always used for what we were assigned to at that time. We had to hunt down Sephiroth and Cloud Strife, trying to find the Promised Land, which was an Ancient legend about a place supposedly full of Mako. Shinra wanted to build reactors there, Sephiroth wanted to use it for his own ends, which turned out to be summoning Meteor to destroy the world so he could become God of Nothing, and Cloud was just a puppet, following Sephiroth, making Sephiroth's job easier." Axel snorted. "In the end, Cloud derailed Sephiroth's plans but... I doubt Sephiroth stayed dead. After all, there was that... weird hiccup in time not long ago. People who'd died were alive again, people who were already alive suddenly children again. It was weird. And then, Radiant Garden was overcome by darkness. And I... I lost my heart." Axel admitted softly. "I can't say I was ever a really nice guy, but... well, I kept tabs on what Reno has been doing and ... I don't want him back. I don't want to be near him."

Reaching over, Axel caught Roxas's shoulder and pointed at the wooden door of what was obviously a tavern. Why this was obvious was because of the sign above the door displaying a plate braced by a fork and knife. "Food, there," Axel directed and nodding, the younger blonde obediently turned. Silence fell between them as they filed through the door and into the toasty, crowded, and loud confines of the tavern. There was a man near the fireplace, playing a guitar with a showman's flare involving most of the tavern in a ribald song, and the waitresses, some of which happened to actually be humans, wove through the crowd like fish in water, not spilling a drop off of whatever was on their plates.

Neither of them spoke until reaching a table on the other side of the room in the corner. Axel lost in his own thoughts and Roxas musing on what other information he might be able to pry out of Axel tonight. Admittedly, the blonde haired kid had always been curious about Axel's past, but hadn't had a way, up till now, to pry it out of him. _'Let's meet in the next life... you were wrong, Axel, you did get a next life.'_

They were left to themselves for all of five seconds before someone slammed a chair down at their table and flopped into it, dropping a plate and cup on the thick splintery table. Roxas jerked lifting his head to turn and look at the newcomer as Riku picked up his fork again, spearing a piece of meat smothered in slimy brown sauce, "You two," the silver haired boy stated, pointing the fork with meat on it at first Roxas, then Axel, "are blind as bats. You walked right past me."

Blinking Axel frowned, "When?"

"Just now," Riku stated around his mouthful.

Eyes half-lidded, Axel folded his arms, "Maybe," he stated in a bland voice, "I was ignoring you."

"Riku!" a short blonde shouted, landing on the table facing the silver haired boy. She was _very_ short, actually. Around six inches tall. "What's the big idea? Just getting up and leaving us like that! You're such a jerk!" As the blonde ranted, two other fairies floated up, landing in the center of the table, one brunet, one whose hair was either black or dark gray, Roxas couldn't exactly tell which.

"Oh," the brunet said, "Hello," she smiled at Roxas. "Are you friends of Riku's?"

Slamming his fork down, Riku snapped at the blonde, "Lay off! You got over here just fine on your own. I don't have to tell you when I'm gonna breathe, do I?"

Roxas shook his head at Riku, then turned back to the brunet fairy, "Yeah, sorta anyway. I'm Roxas, that's Axel."

Looking from him, to the redhead, the girl nodded, "I'm Yuna!" she called throwing a hand into the air.

Spinning around immediately, the blonde fairy shouted, "I'm Rikku!" she hopped over, posing with Yuna.

"Paine," the fairy in black stated blandly.

"We're the Gullwings!" Yuna announced once more, cheerfully, "We're treasure hunters. You haven't happened to see anything lately, have you?"

Axel quirked a brow, "Eh, not really. We're kinda looking for something living."

"Aros," Riku stated, "Yeah, I know. Is Sora on this world too?"

Blinking, Roxas turned and shook his head, "No, he went the other way where the path split."

With an irritated groan, Riku rubbed the side of his face, "He just went to Radiant Garden then. That's the direction I just came from."

Roxas snorted, "Oh, so _you're_ the one that opened that path. Well, if you stick with us, we're supposed to meet Sora again in two days."

"That's what Queen Minnie told me," Riku agreed, "She also told me you guys were under the impression that Aros was a boy."

As one, Axel and Roxas snapped their heads around, "What!" Roxas demanded, "But- ..." he snapped his mouth shut on what he would have said, "Have you _seen_ Aros?" he asked.

"Nope," Riku replied working on his dinner more.

"Excuse me," said a young girl dressed in the waitress's uniform, "Sorry for the wait, what'll you be having?"

Axel glowered, "what he's got," he pointed at Riku's plate.

"Same," Roxas replied, wanting to keep it simple and get the girl away so they could continue their conversation.

Nodding, the girl headed off, leaving the six of them to their own devices once more.

Sitting back in his chair, Roxas shook his head, "Yeah. Sora's the only one of us who's seen Aros in person. I've seen him through Sora's memories."

Again, Riku pointed his fork at Roxas, "Which reminds me. How the hell are _you_ here?"

Eyeing the silver-haired young man, Roxas replied, "By choice. It's nothing detrimental to Sora, so piss off."

Axel sat back in his chair, tipping slightly as he folded his hands behind his head, smirking. Yuna and Rikku, however, didn't seem to like the sparks flying between Roxas and Riku. Floating up to eye-level with the two, Yuna turned first to Riku, "You're not being very nice today," she shook a finger at him, "You should be nicer to your friends, one day they might not be there when you need them." Spinning around, she faced Roxas, "and you should try and be more polite, an attitude like that isn't going to make you any new friends."

Shaking his head, Roxas snorted, "Sorry, but I just don't think Riku and I are going to ever get along, Miss Yuna. We've had... encounters in the past that aren't going to be forgotten easily. We won't kill each other, after all, Sora would be upset if we did."

Riku flicked his fingers, dismissing the topic and turned to face Axel, "So, how are _you_ here?" he demanded to know and the redhead rolled his eyes.

* * *

"So this is it?" 

Looking towards her, Puck nodded.

Kaiyou turned back towards the dark tunnel that stretched before her. From outside, this tunnel wasn't immediately obvious, after all, they'd had to climb into it through a narrow gap between the muddy ground and a fallen pillar in what looked to be a very old cemetery on the palace grounds, fairly far from the main doors of the castle but also not exactly easy to sneak over to.

She was _not_ looking forward to sneaking out with clumsy Laguna stumbling along behind her.

Setting her shoulders, she started forward, determination locking her jaw tightly – so her teeth wouldn't rattle.

The scrape and patter of Puck's feet made her stop and she turned, finding him walking beside her. "I told you to go away," she hissed, "I don't need you."

Puck snorted, "You do too," he stated firmly and headed past her, tail whipping side to side. "How could I, in clear conscience, allow a girl to face these tunnels by herself?"

Scowling, she stomped after him, fists clenched at her sides. "I'll show you," Kaiyou muttered under her breath.

* * *

"Aww man!" Laguna growled, once again, standing at the bars of their cell, gripping them with both hands, "When're they gonna feed us? I'm starving!" 

"You won't like what they've got, then," Cloud muttered from his corner, having not moved once all day.

Turning partially, Laguna peered into the shadows at Cloud, finding the man's glowing blue eyes half-lidded. "Why do you say that?"

"Shh."

Laguna frowned, "Don't shush me-"

Lifting his eyes, Cloud looked first at Laguna, then past him. "I think I heard something," the man stated and got to his feet.

Confused, Laguna fell silent, listening with all his might for what had caught Cloud's attention. It had to be real, since the swordsman had actually moved and now had his head cocked slightly, glowing eyes narrowed in concentration.

_"Here we are,"_ a voice echoed down the hall.

_"shut up,"_ another voice hissed.

Laguna held his breath and pressed closer to the bars, trying to peer down the hall. His efforts were in vain, however, for all he could see was the glow of the torch set in the wall at the far end, near the entrance of the dungeons.

Silently, Cloud stepped closer to the bars and stopped.

"Laguna!"

"AIE!" Leaping backwards and almost falling into the piss pit, the mage flailed his arms and regained his balance as Kaiyou scowled at him from the other side of the bars – having approached from the opposite direction he'd been looking.

"Shh!" she hissed and shuffled in her side-pouch briefly, coming up with a length of narrow metal which she inserted into the lock and started jiggling.

"Aros! What're you doing here?" Laguna hissed, clutching the bars of the door.

Giving him a deadpan look, she stated, "Busting you out of jail," she stated, "Hush, before someone comes."

"Actually," Cloud stated, "Someone's more likely come if he suddenly went quiet." Frowning at her fussing with the lock, he was about to make further commentary when the mechanism clicked open and the gate squeaked wide. Wincing Kaiyou stepped away from the door as Laguna and Cloud filed out.

Stepping over, Laguna threw his arms around her, "Aww! I knew you'd come rescue me!"

Eyes going wide, Kaiyou allowed him to hug her for a second, then shoved him off, blushing as she found the strange blonde staring at her, "Retard," she called him, "Thank me when we get out of here."

"How'd you _get_ in here in the first place?" Laguna had to ask as Kaiyou looked back over her shoulder towards the end of the hall that was deeply shadowed.

"Indentured servant," Kaiyou stated as Puck came jogging into sight.

"Bad news, Aros!" the rat kid gasped, "Someone saw us on our way across. Guards are coming to both ends."

"Which way would be easier to get out from?" Kaiyou asked.

Pointing towards the other end of the hall, Puck replied with a flick of his tail, "Front door's closer, it's just there's a gate between us and that door."

"I can pick it," Kaiyou stated, "Let's go."

Turning, she dashed off down the corridor made of stone blocks that were slightly moldy, leaving everyone behind as she tried to reach the gate as quickly as she could to give herself the time she would need to pick it open. "There's gotta be a better way!" she muttered, then her eyes opened. _'Maybe there is!'_

Without breaking stride, she called her Keyblade. Skidding around the corner on the slick uneven floor, she stumbled to a stop as she found the gate before her – and a pair of guards already present beyond it. They were next. But first, the gate!

Swinging her blade around, she pointed it towards the lock. "Open sez me!" she commanded, narrowing her eyes.

Obediently, light shot out from the end of her blade and hit the lock. With a click and flash, the gate swung open just as Laguna and the other two came jogging up behind her. Immediately leaping into action, Kaiyou surged through the opened gate and slammed her Keyblade into the first guard that got in her way, knocking him back against the wall. Spinning around, she slashed the tip of her sword down the other man's chest, sending sparks off his breast plate. He yelped and toppled backwards, landing on his back where he flailed, trying to get his well-rounded body up off the floor and not succeeding very well.

Figuring the guards to be out of the game, Kaiyou left them as they were and forged ahead; Puck, Laguna, and the strange blonde behind. The next room they came to was the guard station, which was a wide space with benches along one side of the room and on the other were shelves of stuff. In one corner, piled against the wall were various weapons, probably confiscated from the inmates. The blonde, upon reaching this room, immediately headed over to that wall and grabbed out a rather large sword that had to be at least half of Kaiyou's weight.

That... was when the front door burst open.

As one, the group turned to face the Knights of Pluto as they got tangled in the doorway in a ball of flailing limbs and swords. "Geez," Puck muttered. "Haven't improved at all in the last year."

Turning to look at him, Kaiyou scowled, "and you- you... prick," she muttered and turned away, deciding to thoroughly ignore him now.

Once the knights struggled their way into the room and untangled themselves, Kaiyou stared at them, taking a fighting stance, balanced on the balls of her feet, "You guys don't value your lives much, do you?"

Oddly enough, the blonde glanced over at her, snorting with what was possibly amusement, though he didn't smile.

Confused, the knights exchanged their own glances, one of them daring to comment, "Maybe... we should retreat?"

Meanwhile, Laguna called, "Ahha!" and stood from where he'd been shuffling through the pile of weapons. Hefting the shotgun he'd discovered amidst the weapons, he grinned broadly, turning to face the guards, "Now you're really in for it!" he stated, taking aim and a weird glow began flickering around the weapon.

Shrieking, the Knights of Pluto turned and crowded back out through the door.

Looking back at him, Kaiyou blinked, "Oh, I was wondering where to get a gun for you," she flashed a smile as she dropped out of stance, "Let's go!" Turning, she dashed out through the door.

* * *

Garnet sighed as she brushed her hands across the skirt of her white satin ball gown. She'd made it just in time for her coronation, and thankfully, the rush to get her ready for it and crowned had prevented her having to make any sort of explanation to Beatrix or Steiner or even her uncle, Cid. To tell the honest truth, Garnet wasn't sure _what_ to tell them. They'd certainly overreact if she told them that she'd gotten kidnapped by a Prince of Darkness who was determined to marry her and make himself king of her lands by destroying her spirit, and she didn't doubt that he could, too. She'd seen what he'd done to Kaiyou. 

The memory of Gary shoving his hand into Kaiyou's chest and the look of sheer terror and revulsion on her face was...

Shivering, the newly crowned queen stood from her dresser table and padded across the room to her balcony, where she stepped out into the fading light of the day. "I wonder what they're doing now?" she wondered, staring out across the city of Alexandria, admiring the colors of the streamers and banners that decorated the streets.

"Oh...Zidane," she sighed softly, placing her hands on the balustrade in front of her as she leaned against it, "Are you alive?" she asked the setting sun, squinting in the light, "Or have you left me to live in loneliness forever?"

"Alone? Highness, you're being melodramatic."

Turning Garnet paused and sighed, finding Beatrix standing in the doorway, weight on one hip, wrist resting on the pommel of her sword, "It's almost time for the ball," the general said. "I just thought you'd like to take the chance to tell me what happened while Steiner was busy elsewhere."

Folding her hands together Garnet looked down and away, "...I...I don't want you to think I disappeared because of what I said earlier that day," she started, "I was just... panicking, I guess."

"I'm not mad at you," Beatrix stated, her long blonde curls bouncing against her shoulders as she shook her head, her right eye covered by a white patch studded with diamonds. Despite being one-eyed, Beatrix had a good eye for clothes. Her garments for tonight were both practical and pretty, consisting of knee-high leather boots, pearlescent grey leggings, and a creamy thigh-length dress, the skirt of which was made of several loose layers of fabric, making it impossible to tell that there were numerous slits to allow for maximum movement. The top of her dress was a halter top, tying behind her neck to allow her arms as much movement as possible. Long pearlescent gray gloves covered her arms up to her armpits, and to complete the outfit, her sword, Save the Queen, hung from its customary place on her left hip.

Lifting her eyes back to Beatrix's face, Garnet smiled slightly, "Thanks," she said, "It wasn't my fault, this time. I didn't _want_ to be kidnapped... But I suppose you should know about this man, should he show up again. His name is Gary, he is a Prince of Darkness, a being of pure evil. He wished to marry me and break me so that he could rule Alexandria with me nothing more than a puppet. I was saved by... by a young man named Aros. He helped me get home in time for the coronation," Garnet paused, "Have there been any strange black creatures seen around lately, with large yellow eyes. I – I guess they look a little like Black Mages," she admitted, feeling sorry for the Black Mages. They really just couldn't get a break, it seemed.

Beatrix straightened, lifting her chin, "You know what those things are?" she asked.

Eyes widening, Dagger licked her lips, "Heartless. They're evil beings, created from the darkness in people's hearts. Ordinary weapons won't harm them unless they're in the hands of someone with a strong heart of light," she explained, "Aros has a blade that can destroy the Heartless fairly easily, it was created to destroy them."

"Perhaps we should hire him?" Beatrix suggested.

Blushing, Garnet looked away, "I- I'm not sure. I suppose we could ask."

"You like him," Beatrix stated, stepping forward to take Garnet's chin between her thumb and finger, tipping the queen's head back. The general's single piercing eye looked firmly into Garnet's gaze, "You like him," she repeated, "and you could love him, but only if you knew that Zidane was never coming back."

Blushing at how easily Beatrix had read her, Garnet could only drop her gaze when the general released her.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of," Beatrix stated, placing a hand on Garnet's shoulder, "Whichever you choose, I'll support. Your husband should be someone you can trust and rely on, and there are no suitors from your class, so choose whoever you want."

Lifting her eyes again, Garnet nodded, "Thank you." Turning away, she returned to the balustrade as a commotion below caught her attention. Leaning forward, her crystal pendant swinging, Garnet squinted just as the door to her room burst open, "General!" one of Beatrix's special guards shouted as she stumbled into the room. "There's been a break out in the prison. Captain Steiner sent the Knights of Pluto to take care of it but they've fled. I've sent the Guard to take care of them before they disrupt anything."

Below, an explosion echoed off the castle walls. Gasping, Garnet leaned down further over the balustrade, then pushed back, spinning around and mid-stride, grabbing up her skirts, in both hands as she ran through her room as fast as she could. "Highness!" Beatrix gasped and was forced to take off after her queen as Garnet dashed out into the hall, and down the stairs as fast as she could without tripping.

Bursting through the front doors of the palace, she pelted across the grass towards the commotion, breath caught in her throat, giving her a stitch in her side. "Stop!" Beatrix shouted, "Highness!"

Ahead, the scene that had been in progress ground to a stop, Kaiyou, Puck, Laguna, and the strange blonde standing back to back, surrounded by Beatrix's elite squad of guards. Stumbling to a stop, Dagger pushed past one of the guards and gasped for air, "Aros! What're you doing here?"

Blushing, the tip of Kaiyou's Keyblade sank and she looked down without answering. Thankfully, Laguna stepped into the silence, "Sorry, Dagger, it's kinda my fault." He laughed, "I got arrested for something. I'm still not quite sure what."

Huffing for breath, the queen shook her head, "Oh... you two are..." straightening, she smiled, "You could have just asked to be invited, you know."

Lifting her eyes slowly, Kaiyou straightened, her Keyblade disappearing from her hand, "Sorry about the mess, Dagger," she said shyly.

Just as she stepped forward, light flashed in her palm as her Keyblade returned unexpectedly. The hair on the back of her head standing on end in a sudden draft of clammy cold air and instinctively, Kaiyou threw herself into a summersault just as a blade whipped through the air right at neck level.

Rolling to her feet and turning to face her attacker, her eyes widening as the tall young man with long black hair and white coat lunged forward, slashing Obsidian Heart downwards. Desperately, she threw herself backwards, narrowly avoiding getting sliced. As it was, Gary's sword caught the tip of her nose.

Around them, chaos broke out as Neo-Shadows appeared. Beatrix snarled, drawing Save the Queen in a quick snap and severed the head of a Heartless as it leapt for Garnet. Laguna turned, cocking his shotgun which briefly flared with light, then fired a spray of ice bullets at a pack of Heartless as they came charging towards the group. The strange blonde was no slacker either and leapt into the fray, coming around behind Dagger to protect her back as she repeatedly cast protect and shell spells on everyone. Terrified, Puck dashed over, hiding beside the queen.

Staggering backwards, Kaiyou swung her Keyblade around, catching the sword of darkness in the prongs of the crown on the end, effectively binding them both, but that wasn't exactly a situation she wanted to be in. Eyes widening as Gary drove her backwards step by step, Kaiyou struggled to break free, but the fight was useless when her sword was caught.

"Finally!" Gary sneered, "Giving me a fight! How refreshing." Pressing harder, he pushed Kaiyou's sword back against her chest, nearly laying his own blade against her shoulder. Squeezing her eyes shut, she turned her face, not wanting to see his demonic expression, sneering directly into her face, sapping away whatever confidence she'd managed to gain in the last few hours.

Terrified of him, she shoved hard and released her sword as she spun away and in that same moment, a loud bang went off, engulfing Gary in a ball of flames that quickly died, put out by a wave of darkness. However, the distraction was enough for Kaiyou to call her blade back to her hand.

Leaping forward, Kaiyou slashed at the Prince of Darkness, forcing him back a step, but he easily batted aside her attack, and the subsequent attacks she hurled at him in a desperate attempt to get past her own aversion to actually hitting him. "I take it back," Gary sneered, "You're pathetic."

Abruptly he leapt into the air and flipped backwards over the blonde man's swift slash with his incredibly large sword. Quickly turning to face him, Gary laughed, "And you... must be Cloud Strife. Sephiroth's told me a lot about you. Shouldn't you be on Radiant Garden? I'm sure Loz and Yazoo miss you."

"Shut up," Cloud muttered and rushed forward, swinging. Once again, Gary leapt into the air, coat flaring. As he reached the apex of his jump, he disappeared into a dark portal, leaving the Heartless he'd brought with him to their own devices. Some left, but others stayed, and with no choice but to continue, Kaiyou leapt upon a Neo-Shadow, slashing it apart in one angry slice.

Cloud shot past her once again, taking his post at Garnet's back again and dispatching thee Heartless along the way. Turning her anger at herself and her inability to hurt Gary into power, she leapt upon another Heartless and bashed out its brains in one downwards hack. Following that, she spun, taking two more out and came to a stop when she found no more Heartless to take out her frustrations on.

Laguna's new gun went off repeatedly before silence fell again.

Breaking away from Beatrix and Cloud, Dagger dashed forward, "Aros," she called, lifting her hands, "You're bleeding-"

Ducking back and capturing the queen's hand with one of her own, Kaiyou sent her blade away, "I'm okay, it's just a scratch – I'll get it on your dress though."

Fingers curling in, Dagger met Kaiyou's gaze for a long moment before requesting, "Then let me heal it?"

Sighing, Kaiyou released the queen's wrist, "If you have to," she grumped, "It's just a scratch though," she did, however, take a moment to wipe the dripping blood off on her arm-sock.

Focusing her power, Dagger cast her healing spell on Kaiyou, then stepped back and turning to face her people, "General Beatrix, these are my friends," she told the woman, "Aros and Laguna, they're the ones who helped me get home. I'll show them to rooms now, if you'll make sure there aren't any more Heartless to disrupt the ball."

Beatrix nodded, clicking her heels together with a salute.

Turning, Dagger looked at Cloud, then Puck, frowning at the latter, "You two are invited as well."

"Yay!" Puck shouted.

"You'll have to take a bath, first though," Kaiyou stated sourly.

Laughing softly, Garnet nodded, "I agree. Sorry, but this is a formal occasion. I'm sure we'll be able to find something to fit you all," she sounded calm and happy, but Kaiyou could tell she was shaking, and covertly placed a hand under Garnet's elbow, steadying her. Placing a hand over Kaiyou's Garnet nodded once more to the saluting Beatrix and started off.

Blushing at the general's intense gaze, Kaiyou tried not to meet the blonde woman's single-eyed gaze.

"You should rest," Kaiyou whispered to Garnet once they were past the queen's general.

"I thought he was going to kill you," Garnet whispered back with a slight shake of her head.

Kaiyou glanced back over her shoulder at Laguna, Cloud and Puck, finding the mage whispering intently to the rat boy. As she watched, she saw Laguna slip some munny to the rat kid and Puck smirked with a nod of apparent agreement.

Sighing, Kaiyou turned her attention forward, realizing at last that she too was trembling. Dagger's fingers tightened on her hand as they leaned on each other.

* * *

_AN: if this chapter sucked in any way, I'm very sorry, but blame it on the fact that my wisdom teeth are coming in and I've had a light fever on and off all day and I feel like total garbage. I did the best I could! I hope you liked the G.B.S. (Gratuitious Battle Scene) yay, Go "setup for later Angst"! Further news, this chapter ended at page 302! whee!_

_Next Chapter: Return to Radiant Garden!_


	49. Commotion on the East Side

_Chapter 49_

_(Commotion on the East Side)_

Panting hard, Sora pelted after Leon, a step behind the older man as they ran through the streets of Radiant Garden, following the sound of terrified screaming that were coming from the eastern section of town. The rock walls and Tudor styled houses went by in an unidentified blur as smoke rose up ahead.

Another crash resounded through the town as they rounded a corner, Sora skidding to an abrupt halt as he looked up, first spotting the four legged mechanical creation thumping and whirring down the street. Atop those four legs was something that could only have been a cannon, a laser cannon at that, for as Sora watched, the brawny man with short buzzed silver hair turned the swiveling cannon and blasted the ground directly behind the screaming terrified townsfolk that were running before those talon-like claw legs. Shaking off his shock, Sora leapt aside as the people went running past in a panicked mob, the blast of the cannon following behind them. Leon dodged to the other side of the street, narrowly avoiding getting trampled.

The top of the mechanical monster clanked as it turned, the long barrel on the front flickering with light as it aimed towards Leon even as the man dashed out into the center of the street once the people had gone past.

Shouting a warning, Sora leapt away as the gun fired, blasting the ground with a spear of blue-white light, the shockwave of which knocked him flat, tingled oddly on his skin as he landed hard on his side and rolled to his feet. Heart in his throat, he looked around for Leon and found him climbing to his feet only a short distance away.

Already, the gun was powering up, the brawny man standing on it smirking as he worked the controls of the walking cannon.

Getting his feet under him, Sora launched forward, running as hard and fast as he could to get under the gun. "Sora – no!" Leon shouted as the gun went off and he was forced to shield his eyes as the blast hit the ground.

Shortening his stride the last few steps before the gun went off, Sora leapt into the air, narrowly avoiding the laser blast and hoped that he wouldn't just land in it. Thankfully, the backlash blast from the beam striking the ground threw him higher into the air and just as he began to fall again, the blast ended. Landing on the hot ground, Sora sprinted forward again as the gun began charging up, the man aiming it scowling with his lip curled.

Leon lowered his arm and got to his feet, lifting his gunblade with both hands to take aim at the silver haired man. In a blur of motion, the man dodged the bullet and swung his cannon around towards Leon. This distraction allowed Sora the chance to close in on his target, and leaping up onto the machine, he slashed his Keyblade at the man that had to be what Leon had called a 'Sephroid' for he looked far too much like Sephiroth for Sora's tastes.

In another movement so fast it blurred, the Sephroid dodged under Sora's swing and came up with a fist, slamming the prongs of his strange bracer into Sora's stomach. An explosion of crackling energy sent the young man flying, only to be stopped by the brick wall of a building. Landing hard on the ground, Sora groaned and started climbing to his feet immediately, despite the way the world was spinning as he moved.

Taking advantage of the large fist fighter's distraction, Leon dodged the blast from the cannon as the machine continued whumping and banging down the street. Slipping under it, Leon stabbed at the belly of the machine puncturing a hole in the thin metal sheeting that protected the mechanical menace's guts. Unfortunately, he didn't get the chance to follow up, for the Sephroid leapt off his weapon, leaving it on auto pilot while he ducked below it to take care of the meddling gunblade wielder.

Yanking his blade free from the machine, Leon spun to face the fist fighter, holding his sword out and low, ready to attack. Swinging his blade, Leon's eyes widened as his sword cut only thin air. With a bone-crunching crack, the Sephroid's fist slammed into his side, sending him crashing to the ground some distance away.

Shaking off at least a little of his dizziness, Sora rushed forward, hefting his Keyblade around to catch the Sephroid hard in the leg, slicing the man's pants with the sharp edge, drawing blood. Stumbling, the bigger man growled in fury and without wasting another second, was on Sora, swinging with both fists from every direction. Blocking what he could with his sword, Sora realized that he was _not_ winning this fight about the same time that the Sephroid caught hold of both of his wrists and hauled Sora off his feet.

"Hhraaah!" Leon shouted, coming in from behind, but his movements were a lot slower now than they had been.

Spinning, the Sephroid released Sora in mid-arc, sending the boy flying to land in front of the still-moving cannon on mechanical legs. Blearily, Sora stared at the cannon, trying to figure out which image was the real one by squinting one eye closed. "Sora!" Leon shouted, the man's voice echoing oddly in his head as the brunet boy began slowly climbing to his feet as the machine drew closer.

Stumbling back out of the way, Sora narrowly avoided getting pierced by the machine's legs. The Sephroid, apparently thinking that Leon was down for the count again after throwing the gunblade master across the street into a wall, climbed back atop his machine while it was still in motion and took the cannon controls, turning the gun to aim at Sora.

Stumbling to his feet again, Leon darted in from the side to stab his gunblade into one of the leg joints of the cannon on legs. For a moment nothing happened, then electricity began to crackle from within and Leon yanked his sword out quickly just as the machine exploded with a belch of smoke and oddly green fire and began to topple to the side.

Leaping off the dying machine, the silver haired man rolled. Moving so fast his form blurred, he was upon Leon, swinging his right fist around, the prongs of his strange bracer extended. In a crackle of energy, the man's fist connected and in a snap, the piston of the man's forearm weapon slammed forward, jabbing prongs into Leon's chest. With a crack, the impact sent the brunet flying, gunblade clattering to the ground some distance away. Stumbling forward with a shout, Sora leapt upon the Sephroid, Keyblade held over his head, only to catch the man's fist in his stomach. Easily, the Sephroid backhanded him across the street to slam into another wall and crash to the ground.

Landing hard and curling around his stomach as he gasped for air, Sora knew that the Sephroid was stalking across the destroyed street towards him. He could hear the sound of the man's heavy foot-falls crunching the broken bits of stone, the sound echoed through him as he tried to gasp for air. At least he managed to call his Keyblade back to his hand, but a lot of use that would do when he was prone on the ground and unable to breathe.

Kneeling, the man grabbed the front of Sora's shirt, easily lifting the shorter boy off the ground, his feet dangling. With a sneer, he balled his fist but a whistle from the side caught his attention and he paused, looking away. Giving an annoyed growl, the Sephroid released Sora, dropping him to the ground like a sack of meat and turned away.

Wherever he went, Sora didn't see as darkness clouded his vision.

* * *

Squeezing his eyes shut tighter as someone dabbed a cold rag on his forehead, Sora grumbled beneath his breath, then stopped as nausea burbled in his stomach and the world seemed to spin around him. "Don't move," Yuffie's voice said, "Aerith says you got a concussion."

"Leon..?" Sora managed to ask, then swallowed hard.

"He's ... he's alright," Yuffie said finally.

Reassured, Sora was not, and he pried an eye open to peer up at her wavering form. "Whut happened?" he asked, wanting to know, but with the way the room was spinning, he didn't want to move for fear of falling off the world. "Where 'm I?"

Placing a hand on his shoulder, Yuffie held him down, but it was a wasted gesture, he honestly wasn't going anywhere. "We don't know, we just found you two knocked out and the Mako cannon robot destroyed. We brought you back to Merlin's house. Leon's fine, really." She sounded more confident in that reassurance this time, "He's just cracked some ribs is all. Aerith patched him up, he'll just be sore for a few days." She sighed, rolling her eyes, "He gets so cranky when he's sore. As for you," she poked his chest, "Aerith healed you too, but she said you'll still be dizzy for a while, so take it easy, okay?"

"Okay..." Sora slurred, closing his eyes again as darkness crept up from behind him and yanked him down into the dizzy swirl.

_"Sora? Umi? Where are you...? Why've you left me? Talk to me!"

* * *

_

"What do you mean?" the voice echoed in his head, making it throb, and while he would have preferred to have remained asleep, he found that the voices would not let him.

"Exactly what I said. He broke in, trashed things, hacked Tron, and left. I don't know if anything's missing though."

The voices, Sora realized slowly, were Leon's and Cid's, however, Sora didn't feel like opening his eyes just yet.

"Tron's putting everything back together in his systems," Cid continued, "But he says he isn't sure what Yazoo was looking for, either. He ran a program off a disk, though, and Tron's busier trying to figure out what program got loaded."

Cautiously, Sora opened his eyes, finding that he was lying in a bed on his side, back towards Cid and Leon. There was a bandage wrapped around his head, partially covering his left eye and after taking stock of the rest of his body, Sora determined that he was mostly just bruised and would likely be sore. That Sephroid had given him quite a beating. Nearly as bad as the one Gary had given him.

"But the defense system is alright?" Squall asked.

"Yeah," Cid sighed, "That was the first thing Tron checked."

"...How is he?"

A moment of silence passed before Cid replied, "Got knocked around some, but he's alright. You didn't talk to him, did you?"

"I..."

Sighing, Cid grumbled, "Why not?"

"Because I don't know what he remembers. I don't... want to trigger it," Squall admitted haltingly, "Ellone went through a lot of trouble..." he stopped and the sound of feet being placed on the floor was prelude to a grunt of pain as Leon stood, "Enough," he stated, "Quit bothering me. It's better this way. Don't say anything to him. Let's go downstairs before we wake him up, though."

Quickly, Sora closed his eyes as Leon and Cid filed past the bed he was lying in.

Sora kept his eyes shut long after the sound of their footsteps faded down the stairs before pushing the blankets off his shoulder and sitting up carefully. Though he could still hear the murmur of voices from the main room below, he couldn't understand what anyone was saying. _'What did they mean?'_ he wondered, then looked around, finding that the loft contained three beds, and on the far right wall, a window that gave view of a dark sky.

Sitting there, Sora stared at the window blankly, deliberately trying not to think of anything at all, but those words...

_"Ellone went through a lot of trouble... it's better this way..."_

"Oh-"

Blinking, Sora turned his head to look at Aerith who was holding a tray. "You're awake." Smiling, the woman stepped forward, placing the tray she held on the stand beside the bed. "How do you feel?"

"Not as bad as I did," he admitted, his uncovered eye traveling towards the bowl of steaming liquid that was located on the tray.

Laughing softly, Aerith reached over and carefully removed the bandages from his head, then piled the slightly bloodied cloth aside. With careful fingers, she probed the back of his skull, watching his face as she worked, "Looks like everything healed alright," she observed, "You've got a hard skull, you know?"

Pulling a face, Sora rolled his eyes, "So Riku's told me," he admitted.

Again, Aerith laughed and reached over, picking up the bowl, handing it to him. "Bring the dishes downstairs when you're done," she requested, standing and heading to the other bed that Leon had apparently been using, for there was a tray and dirty dishes on the side table there. Sighing, she picked up the dishes, casting Sora a look.

Hiding behind the bowl, Sora blinked innocently at her, _'Yeah, she'll probably be pissed if I forget! I'll have to make sure I don't forget. ...heh.'_

Sipping the hot brew, Sora gazed towards the window again, completely lost in thought.

"Hi there, Sora. Feelin better?"

Blinking, the boy turned to look over at Goofy and Donald as they came up the stairs, Goofy coming to sit on the end of Sora's bed, Donald hopping up as well. "Yeah," Sora replied, giving them a smile before returning to his meal, he was starving and the soup was really good. Swallowing, he did take a moment to add, "No worse than I was after getting stabbed by Gary. I'm fine." While he was a little sad that he'd made them worry, the fact that they did warmed his heart.

_'She was calling for me...'_ he recalled looking down. _'She sounded really upset... and I couldn't talk to her.' _Lowering the bowl to his lap, Sora's hand unconsciously gripped the crown pendant he never removed, lost in thought. _'Poor Kaiyou- I really need to find her, and yet I'm fooling around here, screwing things up. I seem to be rather good at that sort of thing.'_

Leaning forward, Goofy touched the young man's leg through the blankets and said, "Gawrsh, Sora, you look really down, alla sudden. Is there something wrong?"

"I... it's ... Nothing." Sora's fingers tightened over the charm, feeling the sharp points of the crown digging into the flesh of his palm as he looked away. It wasn't that he didn't want to answer, it was just that he wasn't sure what to say exactly.

Furious, Donald thumped his feet on the bed where he sat, "Aww, c'mon Shora! Don't you shtart that too!"

Surprised, Sora returned his gaze to his friends, quirking an eyebrow, "Start what?" he asked, seriously confused now.

Goofy chuckled as he gave his head a shake that sent his floppy ears swinging. "He means, don't start bein' like Aros - gettin' all sad and not sayin' anythin' about it. You know we're your friends. We'll listen to ya."

Surprised, he looked down at the bowl in his lap, curling his toes in his shoes, "I..." opening his fingers, Sora sighed, "I messed up," he admitted softly, "It was... a long time ago, but I- I really screwed up."

"Funny. Arosh shaid that too," Donald admitted, "Maybe he _ish_ a copy of you?"

Lifting a finger, Goofy shushed the duck, "Go on, Sora. We're listenin'."

Looking up, Sora smiled faintly, "I don't think he is." Biting his lip, Sora turned away to look out the window once again and clutched the necklace. He swallowed a hard lump and said, "I had a sister once. She gave this to me," he turned to face his friends again and held out the charm, "We did everything together, it was fun, but we were little and... She wasn't ...very assertive and tended to get in trouble when she was left alone. But... one day, I- I yelled at her and she ran away."

Quickly, Sora wiped his eyes before his emotions got the better of him, "So I sort of... replaced her with Kairi in a way," Sora looked away as he admitted that, "And that doesn't make me feel too good about the way I treat Kairi, especially when I'd like things with her to be a... different sort of relationship." Sora blushed slightly, but he was sixteen and it was more than time he got around to dating someone. "And to have completely forgotten my sister..." Sora shook his head at that, clutching the necklace again.

"But ya haven't forgotten her, really," Goofy pointed out, gesturing towards Sora's palm, "You wear that, after all."

Darkness lifting from his heart slightly, Sora looked up at Goofy and smiled slightly, "Yeah," he said softly, "I do."

"Hyuck! Maybe," Goofy added as the thought occurred to him, "the Girl you're looking for is your sister!"

Eyes widening, Sora took a slow breath as the idea began chaining hints of memories together in the darkness of the back of his mind, "I- that- that's it!" he breathed at last. "It has to be! Why else would I be able to hear her with my heart?" He put his hand to his chest, "That means... her name is Kaiyou! My sister's name is Kaiyou."

Hearing the thump of a foot on the top stair, Sora looked over to find Leon, minus his coat and belts but still wearing his shirt and pants, although the shirt wasn't tucked in as usual. "Hey," Sora said, "Feeling alright?" he asked, recalling the conversation he'd overheard earlier.

Coming up over the last step, Leon grunted, heading towards the bed beside Sora's and sat down there, resting his elbows on his knees, "I'm fine," he stated, folding his hands together with a sigh and Sora could tell by the way his eyes were squinted that he was in pain.

"So, what's the word on the attack?" Sora asked, trying to prompt a conversation.

"It was a distraction," Leon stated. "Yazoo broke into the castle while we were all distracted. We still don't know what he was after, but we'll find out soon."

Slowly, Sora nodded and kept his mouth shut on the other questions he might have asked, since his asking them would have revealed what he'd overheard. "Alright," he said finally. "You look tired. Get some rest?" he suggested.

Nodding, Squall eyed Donald and Goofy before shifting stiffly to lean down and pull off his boots. Taking the hint, Sora's companions climbed off his bed. "Sleep well, you two," Goofy wished with a little wave, then turned, heading down the stairs.

"Good night, Shora," Donald stated, then gave a nod to Squall and followed the captain of Mickey's knights down the stairs.

Heaving a sigh, Sora frowned at the dirty dishes still sitting on the table beside his bed. "I'd better take these down to the kitchen," he mused, "Before Aerith gets ticked at me."

Squall snorted, "She's pretty scary when she's mad," he admitted and paused, apparently about to say something, then shook his head, biting his lips closed as he dropped his boots to the floor and carefully sprawled back on the bed, crossing his ankles, hands linking behind his head on the pillow.

Convinced that Leon had been about to say something regarding the big secret that he didn't want to tip Sora off on, Sora screwed his face at Leon then shoved the blankets aside, placing his feet on the floor just as a wave of dizziness hit him. It wasn't bad, but Sora put a hand to his head, the other down on the bed beside him to keep from falling over again. Deciding that it would be a good idea to move more slowly, he picked up the tray once the room steadied and stood, heading for the stairs.

Reaching the bottom, Sora looked over to find everyone else – which happened to be Donald, Goofy, Khimari, Merlin, Aerith, and Cid, all sitting around having their own dinners. Casting a smile at them, Sora carefully made his way across the room to the kitchen and set the tray down. With his task done, Sora turned around, heading back for the stairs. At the foot of the stairs, though, he paused, unnerved by the silence in the rest of the room, and also wanting to take a moment to catch his breath. He was met with more silent stares, Cid's highly contemplative, Aerith's approving, Donald and Goofy were frowning at him, probably because they didn't think he should have been out of bed. In any case, with his breath caught, Sora started up the stairs, using the rail to haul himself along.

"He's just worn out," Aerith's voice floated up the stairs after him, "He'll be fine in the morning."

He hoped she was right. Bed and sleep were looking better and better, curiosity be hanged. Deciding to ask Leon tomorrow what he knew about Ellone, Sora collapsed face first onto his bed and wiggled under the covers as an after thought. That was when darkness swallowed him again.

* * *

_AN: This chapter has been edited slightly. Sorry about that, I was so freaking out about the final thing being due and needing to finish this chapter at the same time that I was going buggy and lacking sleep. But anyway, I think it reads better this time. I think... o.o;;;_

_Next Chapter: At the stroke of midnight, Kaiyou will turn into a pumpkin unless she wins the heart of the ravishing captain of the guards, Steiner!_


	50. Dancing Queen

_Chapter 50_

_(Dancing Queen)_

Kaiyou scowled at the mirror.

This... was so incredibly embarrassing.

"I look like a pirate," she stated, "All I need now is an eye patch and a hook and I'll be all set for Halloween."

Laughing, Laguna dropped a hand on her head, fluffing her hair, "You look fine," he replied.

"But..." she objected, briefly looking up at him, then back towards her reflection in the mirror. At her throat, she wore a lace and silk scarf that covered the front of her chest in several layers of floof that effectively hid what little breasts she had in the first place. Over a white silk shirt with long puffy sleeves, she wore a charcoal colored brocade vest-coat, which was sleeveless and had split tails down to her knees.

Beneath, she wore a pair of leggings tucked into knee high boots, and staring at her thighs in the mirror, Kaiyou scowled. _'They look fat,' _she thought acidly, _'Erin's thighs are thin. She looks great in pedal pushers. I look like a sausage in these pants. I don't want to wear them. I don't want to wear any of this! I look like a complete moron!'_ Tears stung her eyes as she stared at her reflection.

"I asked Cloud not to say anything, by the way," Laguna commented as he adjusted the ruffles of silk and lace at his own throat and managed to not look like he was preening. "I bribed the rat kid to keep quiet too."

"In case you hadn't noticed," Kaiyou stated, lifting her eyes from her thighs to her crotch, "These pants draw a lot of attention to the fact that I'm _lacking_ certain bits of anatomy –" she stumbled over her tongue as Laguna leaned around her to peer at her face, grinning.

"That's why I brought this!" he held the roll of cloth in front of her nose.

Slowly, she turned to look at him, her eyes wide, one brow twitching, mouth gaping. "Y- You-'re... Kidding!" she wheezed.

Taking her hand, Laguna slapped the wad of cloth into her palm, then turned her, shoving her towards the dressing curtain, "No I'm not kidding. You want to embarrass Dagger?"

Flushing bright pink, Kaiyou hunched her shoulders as she stumbled to a stop. "You'd better hurry before someone comes to check on us," Laguna added, having gone back to adjusting his own strange outfit. At the moment, Laguna was wearing a dark blue knee length coat with short sleeves, but large folded down cuffs around his wrists that matched the coat. Shoulder pads, attached to a bolero were decorated with lace on the bottom, emphasizing his broad shoulders. Beneath the bolero was another layer of longer coat that hung down to his knees in tails. He too was wearing leggings, though his were pearl grey, and ankle boots that matched the color of his coat.

Flushing bright pink, Kaiyou clenched her fingers on the roll of cloth and turned away, heading towards the room she'd changed in. She and Laguna had been led to a guest suite of rooms by Dagger herself, now Queen Garnet, and then descended upon by a herd of servants who weren't human, had clothes shoved into their hands, and then been hastily pushed into one of the bedrooms to change. Kaiyou had claimed the bathroom as her place to switch clothes, Laguna had already been in the process of unbuckling his belts.

Stepping into the beautifully tiled bathroom with a sunken hot tub and separate showering area to the side, Kaiyou shut the door and blushed bright pink as she unbuckled her belt and pulled the waistband of her pants out. "I can't believe I'm doing this," she wheezed and made the mistake of glancing up, only to see herself in the bathroom mirror. Turning an even brighter shade of pink, she turned her back on the image and shoved the wad of cloth into her pants.

Buckling her belt again, she turned to peer into the mirror, finding that with the addition to her costume, she honestly looked like a man, and not only did the damn pants make her thighs look huge, but they really emphasized her crotch, and self-consciously, she pulled at the front of her coat, trying to make it cover. Unfortunately, it wasn't long enough. _'I wanna just DIE of embarrassment!'_ she wailed in her mind and turned, heading for the bathroom door, opening it just as a servant was lifting her hand to knock.

This was one of the few human servants.

They stared at each other for a very long moment, both blushing, and for completely different reasons. Kaiyou cleared her throat, "Uhm..." she murmured, throat catching anyway and unintentionally making her voice deeper.

Smiling dreamily, the servant girl stepped back slightly and bowed, "M'lord, I'm to do something with your hair."

Kaiyou hesitated, of two minds about the deal. _'Let's play with each other's hair!'_ she recalled Erin calling to their other foster sister, Laura. Kaiyou chewed the inside of her lip as she remembered how jealous she'd been of those two – and how angry that they'd not invited her in on the impromptu hair-parties. Coming back to reality, she found Laguna perched on a footstool, another girl brushing his hair back from his face and braiding it.

Finally, Kaiyou nodded to the servant standing in front of her. "Okay," she said at last, still nervous and disliking the way her pants felt. They made her want to walk funny.

Turning away, the servant girl pattered over to another stool set up near Laguna's where she stopped and turned towards Kaiyou again, hands clasped in front of her knee length black skirt with a crisp white apron adorned with frills. Mixed jealousy of how cute the girl was and embarrassment battled in Kaiyou's chest as she stalked across the room to the stool, then straddled it, her lips pursed in the faintest of scowls. Laguna, not allowed to turn his head, looked over at her and grinned. "Ah, come on," he said, "It's not that bad."

"Shuddup," Kaiyou muttered, blushing and resolutely _not_ looking at him.

Laguna just laughed.

Meanwhile, the servant girl behind her took up a comb and started brushing Kaiyou's hair in gentle strokes. Kaiyou closed her eyes as the world fell away from her, becoming somewhere else entirely, but the details were too fuzzy, she couldn't see, all that was concrete was what she could feel and hear. The warmth from a fire nearby warmed her face as gentle hands combing her hair. _'Whenever sang my songs... on this stage, on my own...'_ a voice echoed in her head, sung by the man sitting behind her on the floor, his large hands combing and caressing her hair.

He stopped singing and gently asked, "Aros?"

With a gasp, she opened her eyes, the scene fading from her grasp and she looked over at Laguna, finding that his hair was done and he was now leaning towards her, looking worried, "You really that tired?"

The servant girl behind her grabbed Kaiyou's head and jerked it back forward, "Please don't move, M'lord," she requested.

Flushing, Kaiyou cleared her throat, "No, I... I'm fine," she stammered in answer to Laguna, her heart pounding in her chest. She would have shaken her head to clear the cobwebs except she feared the wrath of the servant girl behind her who was doing strange things to her hair.

Laguna paused before offering, "You don't have to stay the whole night. I'm sure Dagger would understand."

Softly, Kaiyou grunted, not wanting to commit to anything. She wasn't tired. No, actually, getting startled awake had given her a jolt of adrenaline that she was likely going to need if she was going to survive tonight. She shifted uncomfortably on the stool, hands braced on the edge between her thighs, knees spread in a very boyish pose. "What's taking so long?" Kaiyou grumbled, "all you need to do is brush it. There's not enough to put into a tail or anything."

Sniggering, Laguna folded his arms, "They're spiking it," he explained.

Brow twitching, Kaiyou shifted in irritation. "Please stay still, M'lord?" the servant girl requested as she pulled up another clump of hair and did something to it. Finally, she stepped back and came around to the front, "Please close your eyes, M'lord?" she asked politely, and despite Kaiyou's fidgeting, the servant girl was smiling, apparently enjoying her job.

Pressing her lips together in irritation, Kaiyou closed her eyes as the front portion of her hair was divided into clumps and coated in something, making it stiff. Unused to the feeling, Kaiyou clutched the edge of the stool, resisting the urge to mess with her hair. This... was far more than she'd bargained for!

Finally, the servant girl stepped back and announced, "I'm finished M'lord."

Opening her eyes, Kaiyou looked at Laguna who was grinning, which only ticked her off more. Here she was, probably looking like a complete and total dork and he had the audacity to laugh at her! Bristling, she stood and turned away, coming to an abrupt stop when she caught sight of herself in the full length mirror she'd been glowering at her thighs in just a few minutes before.

_'Oh my god. I look JUST like Sora!'_ she wailed mentally. _'A pirate Sora.'_

Amused, Laguna dropped a hand on her shoulder, "Ready?" he asked.

_'No, I'm not!'_ Kaiyou thought, eyes wide, but looked up at him and nodded anyway. Reassuringly, his hand squeezed her shoulder before he released her and stepped away from his stool, striding confidently towards the door, looking like a proper gentleman.

Taking a breath and a little courage, Kaiyou lifted her chin and set her shoulders and glanced over at the girl who'd done her hair as the servant clasped her hands on her skirt, getting a dreamy expression. Unnerved, Kaiyou turned away and hurried to catch up with Laguna. Out in the sitting room of the suite, Kaiyou found Laguna standing with Dagger in the center of the room.

Dagger had changed her dress as well.

Her hair was wrapped up on the back of her head with spirals of curls framing her face in front of her ears which were adorned by earrings in the shape of wings. A translucent veil was clipped to the back of her head, hanging down past her shoulders and on the front she wore a tiara with silver flowers set along the side-bands that held it to her heat. Her dress was creamy white and strapless. Kaiyou found herself staring at the way Dagger's bodice clung to her breasts with no visible means of support, for there was no back to the dress at all practically. Nestled in her cleavage was a silver sword pendant, the large clam-shaped crystal she'd been wearing before nowhere in sight on her person. Silver embroidery of flowers decorated the top edge of the bodice and down the top hem to the back where it flared out across the back panel of her skirt. The front of her wide bell skirt was split and decorated by more silver embroidery and the skirt beneath the split was the same creamy satin as the rest of the dress, the bottom hem scalloped just above the floor. From her arms hung what Kaiyou could only describe as arm-streamers. Two of those streamers were on her upper arms, two on her wrists, made of the same

"Aros," Dagger greeted with a smile and blush, her fingers playing with one of the arm-streamers. "You look... handsome," she admitted.

Startled from her jealous gawking, Kaiyou jerked back and swallowed, "Er..." she gulped, "Um. You too?" Pausing, she blinked, "Uh. Pretty, that is. Um."

Realizing belatedly that she was stammering, Kaiyou bit her lips together and blushed as Dagger laughed softly. Letting go of her arm-streamer thing in favor of holding out her hand to Kaiyou, the queen stepped forward, "Would you do the honor of escorting me?" she requested and Kaiyou hesitated before coming closer to take Dagger's hand and glancing at Laguna, placed it on her arm.

"Sure," Kaiyou agreed, "though I think it's more of you leading me because I don't know where we're going."

Again, she laughed, and together they turned, Kaiyou glancing back at a soft sound behind her, spying the servant girl who'd done her hair standing next to the one who'd done Laguna's. Both of the girls were gazing on with dreamy expressions. Turning away, Kaiyou shook her head and concentrated on walking correctly as the combination of the tight pants with odd lump in the front, and the heels on her boots kept making her want to do the Catwalk Strut.

Together, they headed out of the lushly decorated guest suite and out into the hall, Dagger leading, but Kaiyou escorting and wondering what the heck had happened to her relatively quite and semi-normalish life. _'How long ago was that? oh, merely a week. Seems like a lifetime. Odd how time moves like that.'_

Distracted, she didn't notice which way they'd gone down the hall, and when they stopped at a set of large doors that were twice her height, Kaiyou blinked back to reality. Looking up from staring at the floor, she gulped as she found herself standing at the top of a set of stairs leading into a packed ballroom. Terror began crawling up her spine as a short bird-man thumped a staff on the floor, "Announcing Queen Garnet, Lord Aros of Esthar, and President Laguna Loire of Esthar."

Stepping in, Laguna politely bowed, and after a confused moment, Kaiyou bowed as well. _'Why the hell was I announced as being from Esthar?'_ she wondered, then blinked, glancing over at Laguna who grinned right back at her from his bow.

As one, the entire court bowed and curtsied to Garnet as she stood there, sparkling and gorgeous, clinging to Kaiyou's arm. Nodding to her people, the queen stepped forward, having to pull on Kaiyou to get her moving. Blushing faintly, Kaiyou nearly tripped as she stepped forward, but managed to catch her balance before she embarrassed Dagger and paced down the stairs with her, walking down the path that opened before them. Going on the few movies she'd seen that had this sort of thing in them, Kaiyou walked with Dagger up to her throne and took her hand, bowing as the queen sat.

Squeezing Kaiyou's hand, Dagger whispered, "Try to have a little fun, okay? Oh- and save a dance for me?"

"I- uh... sure..." Kaiyou whimpered with a pleading look on her face, unable to help it.

Releasing her hand, Kaiyou bowed again and backed down the stairs as Dagger nodded towards the orchestra, and the dancing began. Shoulders sagging, Kaiyou breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that she could now slink off to the corner. Except Laguna had sidled up beside her and whispered, "You know, all the girls are staring at you."

Flushing bright pink, Kaiyou shook her head and glanced around. "...I wanna go back to the room now," she whimpered.

Unfortunately, Kaiyou was no so lucky as to be left to do that, for Laguna turned and strode off with a grin and Kaiyou was immediately descended upon by a large woman stuffed into a tiny dress. Disgusted by the overflowing bodice, Kaiyou could only stare as the short round, thankfully human, woman pattered over, her pudgy hands raised as she waddled in her tight red dress. "Ohh, Lord Aros," she breathed in a voice a lot higher than what Kaiyou would have expected. "Welcome to Alexandria! It's such a pleasure to meet you. Please, come speak with me for a moment?"

Blinking at the woman, Kaiyou could only nod with slightly wide eyes.

The woman bustled off through the crowd and Kaiyou glanced around, noticing that she was indeed being stared at with a rather predatory look by all the other girls in the room. Feeling self-conscious, Kaiyou turned and headed after the woman, following her to a table at the side of the room. Flushing as she got there, she glanced around, then, on impulse, did the gentlemanly thing and pulled out the woman's seat for her.

As if she'd fully expected such gestures, the woman sat and Kaiyou took a seat across the table from her, knees apart as she fidgeted on the edge of her chair. "I'm Duchess Kologhne," she greeted, holding her hand out towards Kaiyou.

Flushing and doing the gentlemanly thing again, she took the woman's hand and bowed over it, but refrained from kissing. That... would probably just send the wrong signals entirely. The woman pouted a little, but didn't make a comment and Kaiyou guessed that it had been alright. Retreating back to her side of the table, Kaiyou stared at the woman, wondering what the heck was going on. "A pleasure?" Kaiyou offered after the silence had lasted for a few seconds too long to be comfortable.

"You don't get out much, do you?" Kologhne asked, but didn't sound snotty when she said it, which kept Kaiyou from bristling and just leaving the table. Flushing, Kaiyou shook her head. "So, you're President Laguna's son. Tell me, where is Esthar?"

Pausing, Kaiyou glanced around, wondering what in the world she could say. She had never even _been_ to Esthar!

"Lord Aros!" a younger and much slimmer girl called, though she had hair the same color as Duchess Kologhne's, which was chocolate brown, gliding over delicately. "Your father suggested I show you the gardens!" Taking Kaiyou's arm before she could protest, the new girl pulled her out of her seat, "Sorry mom," the girl said, "Go hit on President Laguna! He's more your age."

Pulled to her feet and immediately pulled off balance, Kaiyou was dragged through the ballroom and out the large glass doors and onto a balcony overlooking a garden lit by gas lamps. In the distance, the lights from the city reflected off the water separating the palace from the town. "Wow..." Kaiyou breathed, stumbling to a halt, which pulled the other girl up short.

Just then, a burst of color sailed into the air from the town and the boom of the explosion followed shortly afterwards. "Oh, someone's got illegal fireworks," the girl sniggered, then turned on Kaiyou. "You're really handsome, you know that?"

Blushing, Kaiyou looked away.

"Forgive me, but I have to tell you... I just want to lick those thighs of yours."

Choking on her own heart, Kaiyou turned bright red as another firework went off in town, painting the sky with crimson sparkles.

"Are you alright?" the girl asked, placing a hand on Kaiyou's shoulder, leaning in.

"I- I- it's-! S'cuse me!" the girl stammered and fled, stumbling across the balcony with the intent to jump over the balustrade. However, she discovered upon glancing around that there was a pair of nobles standing off to the side, embracing. Blushing even more darkly, Kaiyou turned, deciding to take the stairs, since jumping the balustrade would have not only been dangerous, but likely would have embarrassed Dagger when word got around that she kept such crude friends.

Bile gurgling in the pit of her stomach, Kaiyou stalked out into the darkness of the garden, hunting for somewhere she could hide till things died down.

_'Lick my thighs – what a sicko!'_ she thought furiously.

"Hey!" Puck called from the bushes, stepping out into her path just as she got to the hedge maze. "Where you goin so quick?" the rat kid had not only managed to take a bath so that he smelled clean, but his fur was brushed and he was now wearing pantaloons and a tailed coat in shades of royal red. He looked rather... presentable, Kaiyou realized, and the change was startling.

"Trying to find somewhere to hide from these crazy people," Kaiyou admitted in a low voice, "some girl just said..." she flushed and bit her tongue, not wanting to admit.

Sniggering, Puck shook his head, "Can't help you there. They're everywhere. Which is why I don't go to these things."

"Lord _Aros_!" the girl's voice called and Kaiyou cringed.

Turning to Puck, she begged, "Oh- hide me! That girl's scary!"

Laughing, Puck grabbed her hand and shoved her into the bushes, then took a stance in front of the hole as the noble woman's daughter came hurrying around the corner. "Oh-" the girl breathed, "Prince Puck. Have you seen a young man about this tall, brown spiky hair...?"

"Nope," Puck replied, tail flicking from one side to the other, "Haven't seen any guys at all lately."

As Puck talked, Kaiyou carefully shifted her weight and backed up, crawling through the bushes and out the other side where she crouched behind the five-foot tall hedges. Remaining hunched over, she crept back along the paths, heading towards the balcony again.

"Lord Aros."

This time, the voice was a man's, and Kaiyou stopped, looking around and finally found the man who'd spoken. He was broad and tall with a rectangular face and perpetual scowl, wearing highly polished metal armor that reflected the lights from the fireworks out in the city. Clearing her throat, Kaiyou straightened. "Yes?" she asked carefully as the man clanked nearer.

Leaning in, the man's eyes narrowed, "What're you doing sneaking around like that?"

Flushing, Kaiyou looked down and away.

"You're not some kind of thief, are you?" the man demanded.

Eyes widening, she looked back at him, drawing a breath, but the words she wanted to say locked in her throat.

Lifting a finger, he jabbed her in the center of the chest with it as he leaned over her, "I don't abide by law breakers. And I really don't like thieves. Where do you come from?"

Unable to answer, she just stared at him, "You're some kind of rif-raf, aren't you? Street scum! Queen Garnet doesn't need that kind of person around here."

Trembling, she stared as he jabbed a finger into her chest again. "Aros!" Puck hissed as he came jogging down the path, "I - oh, Steiner!"

"Prince Puck," Steiner greeted, turning partially to look at the rat kid.

Taking that moment of distraction, Kaiyou turned away and ran flat out, trembling like a leaf in a winter storm by the time she got back to the balcony. Climbing the steps with weak knees, she looked up, just as the herald that had announced them at the door stepped out. "Oh, Lord Aros," the bird-man said, sounding pleased, "Queen Garnet wishes to dance with you, as soon as you're free to do so."

Wincing, Kaiyou nodded. That was right, she couldn't just leave until she'd danced with Dagger... "Okay. Uh... where's President Laguna?" she asked.

"Beside the... Oh, well, it would be easier to show you," the bird man replied and turned around. Kaiyou fell in behind him, glad to have company that wasn't going to ask prying questions that would likely send her over the edge into tears. Thankfully, Laguna wasn't that far away, sitting at a table near the balcony doors. After delivering her to Laguna, the herald bowed and tottered off.

"Aros," Laguna said as he set down his cocktail glass and stood from where he'd been sitting with Duchess Kologhne. "Excuse me, m'lady," he said to her politely, and turned to face Kaiyou, putting an arm around her shoulders and drawing her away slightly, "What's wrong? You don't look good..."

"I..." Kaiyou flinched, looking off towards the ballroom floor, and paled even more. "I'll...tell you later but... but... Dagger wants to dance with me and I- I can't dance like that!" she carefully pointed towards the dancers out on the floor who were doing a graceful waltz, whirling in carefully choreographed circles. "I can't do that," she squeaked, so close to tears of frustration. "I want to get out of here, tell ... tell Dagger I'm sorry and-" she didn't get to finish her bout of whining as Laguna grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back out onto the balcony.

Lifting a finger, Laguna placed it on the tip of her nose, "Waltzing is easy," he stated, "all you had to do was ask."

Flushing bright pink as he grabbed up her hands, "Now, you put your hand here on my waist, hold your other hand up here like this- firm your arms!" Staring up at him pleadingly, Kaiyou still did as she was told. "Now, with your left foot, step forward. Okay good- side, together, back together, side together back... good!" Laguna narrated and encouraged quickly taking her through a few more moves before turning her loose, "You think you've got it?"

"I think I'm going to die of embarrassment," Kaiyou told him honestly.

Laughing, he tipped her chin up. "Take a breath," he told her, "and smile, things aren't as bad as they seem."

Looking aside, Kaiyou admitted, "You didn't just have some guy in rusty armor accuse you of being street scum."

The silence that met her made Kaiyou finally look up into Laguna's dark expression, "Who said that?" he asked softly.

"I..." Kaiyou stopped herself, "I- if ...you say something it'd cause a scene..."

Taking a breath and lowering his voice, Laguna leaned down to ask, "Trust me?"

Licking her lips, Kaiyou closed her eyes. "Steiner," she admitted finally, recalling what Puck had called the man in the armor. "Please don't cause a scene?" she begged, opening her eyes again.

"I won't," he promised and patted her cheek, releasing her. "Go dance with Dagger now."

Nodding, Kaiyou turned and headed back into the ballroom, blushing furiously as she realized that the impromptu dance lesson had had witnesses... several...

Hunching her shoulders, Kaiyou scurried past the girls and into the ballroom, eyes scanning the crowd when she found that Dagger wasn't on her throne. Finally spotting her dancing with another man, Kaiyou slipped through the crowd without leaving a ripple and waited at the edge of the floor for the dance to end and then stepped forward.

"Um..." Kaiyou murmured, "May I have this dance?" she asked awkwardly of her friend. _'I wish I really was a guy. This would be rather cute if I was...'_

Smiling, Dagger placed her hand in Kaiyou's outstretched one, and flushing, the taller girl led the queen out onto the floor again. "Um, Dagger I..." she stammered, "I don't really know how to dance, so sorry in advance if I step on you, okay?"

Laughing lightly, Dagger shook her head and leaned in to say, "It's okay, Kaiyou. I'll lead."

After a moment of confusion, Kaiyou placed her hands in the correct spot and the music started.

Unexpectedly, Dagger stepped back and Kaiyou stumbled, then caught up to what was going on with the second step, and finally fell into the rhythm by the fourth. Alright. So the box step was easy. Now came the hard part- Dagger pushed and stepped back, leaving Kaiyou confused on what she was supposed to do, but after a quick glance around, realized that the other men were doing the same thing – just standing there. Only, she figured, they didn't look quite as dumbfounded and stupid doing it as she did.

Doing her twirl, Dagger stepped back in and they took hold of each other again, returning to the box step. Another round of that, and Dagger pushed her away again, this time doing that odd little side-step-together-step-side thing Laguna had shown her. Stumbling her way through it and blushing because she knew she looked like a total idiot, Kaiyou clenched her teeth and tried not to watch her feet as they went back to the box-step and did that a few more turns before Dagger went out for another twirl and came back in. Finally, the music came to an end, and they stepped apart, Dagger curtsying. Kaiyou bowed awkwardly.

Straightening, Dagger shook her head, though she was smiling, "Thank you," she said, placing a hand on Kaiyou's shoulder.

"Can I leave now?" Kaiyou begged softly, "I feel like a sheep among wolves..."

With a sigh, Dagger looked down, then smiled again, "Yes, you can go. I'm sorry, Kaiyou." Standing on her toes, she kissed Kaiyou's cheek, "Sleep well."

Flushing, Kaiyou looked away, "Okay," she said softly and backed away a step, bowed, then fled towards the doors, wanting to get a shower and maybe soak away her stress in that nice hot tub she'd seen in the bathroom.

* * *

_Next Chapter: Dagger and Kaiyou's talk and an ff9 recap!_


	51. Facing the Dragon

_Chapter 51_

_(Facing the Dragon)_

Wandering through the halls aimlessly, Kaiyou feared the possibility of never finding her way back to her room in this massive warren of halls and stairs and doors she didn't dare open. At least everyone seemed to be in the ball so her confused wanderings weren't witnessed, but on the flip side, that meant that she had no one to ask directions from. And here, she'd been looking forward to a shower and long soak in the tub.

Stopping in the center of the hall, she let her shoulders sag, "This just isn't fair," she complained, allowing herself to whine since there wasn't anyone around to hear her.

"What's not?"

Jerking upright, Kaiyou spun around and stopped, staring up at the face of a man a foot and a half taller than her with bright crimson dreadlocks. Though he was still a short distance down the hall from her, she cowered in his shadow.

Swallowing, she tried not to crumble to her knees as the tall man with long arms came striding towards her, and she realized that he was _hunched over_ and still stood that much taller than her. "What's not fair?"

Stepping back a pace, then another as he approached, those giant meaty hands giving her over-active imagination _plenty_ to work with, she swallowed, "I- I- I'm t-trying to g-get back to my room but I..." she blushed crimson.

"Lost," the man rumbled, finishing what she couldn't. "You sound like Vivi," he snorted, "Hardly the type Dagger would be interested in."

Folding her arms, Kaiyou shifted back from him another step, "Good, I'm glad you think that," she stated, finding courage enough to deny any sort of romantic relationship between herself and Dagger, if not for herself, then for Dagger's reputation. "I don't want to marry her, nor could I."

"You're the son of a President, whatever and wherever Esthar is."

"It's a country," Kaiyou snapped, "On another world, and I've never been there."

The redheaded man looked down at her from beneath his massive amounts of hair, wide lips pulling into a frown. "So it's made up."

"No, it's not. I've just never been there." Clenching her fists and stomping a foot, she straightened, looking up at him resolutely, "And if you're not going to help me, then go away. I'd rather be lost without company, especially yours."

Oddly enough, the man began to laugh, "Not her type at all," he stated, then turned, pointing. "You passed the guest rooms just down there, Lord Aros." With that being all the help he was going to offer, the mountainous man walked past her with far more deadly grace than a creature his size should have possessed.

Kaiyou skittered back away from him, frowning, "What's your name?" she asked, realizing that he knew hers but she didn't know his.

"Amarant," he stated without looking back, heading down the stairs at the end of the hall.

"...thanks," she said, but wasn't sure if he heard her, for he didn't give any indications.

Turning around, she headed back the way she'd come, frowning to herself as she walked. "Aros!" Blinking, she lifted her eyes, finding Laguna striding down the hall from the other direction. "Hey – something wrong?"

"I've just been lost for the last hour," she replied sourly with a sarcastic hint, "that's all, nothing to be _irritated_ about."

Chuckling, he patted her cheek, "Sorry, this place is a rat's warren of tunnels, isn't it?" placing his hand on her shoulder he turned her around again, walking with her, "Here we are," he announced pointing at a door that looked the same as every last one of the bloody doors on the hall. Kaiyou, unconvinced, watched as Laguna pushed open the door and stepped in, revealing that it was indeed their room – unless every one of them came equipped with that same hideous painting of a fat woman wearing white face paint. She desperately tried to ignore the painting, but the eyes on it seemed to follow her wherever she went.

Stepping into the room behind him, she closed the door and started towards the room she and Laguna had changed in.

A hand on the back of her collar stopped her progress and Laguna stated, "Uh-uh, you've got something you were going to tell me about."

Embarrassed, she flushed wrapping her arms around her shoulders as she looked down, "I... it was...nothing."

"Don't lie to me," Laguna chided, stepping around her, hands moving to her shoulders in a gentle squeeze. "I want to know what happened so that I can deal with it in a calm professional manner."

Turning her face away, Kaiyou refused to look at him, but he derailed her stubborn silence by pulling her in against his chest, arms going around her. "Kaiyou," he said softly, "Please trust me?"

Eyes squeezing shut on tears, Kaiyou put her face against his scratchy coat and gave in, wrapping her arms around him in return. "I- I was running from some crazy girl who said she wanted to lick my thighs and then the guy in armor came up and accused me of being a – a thief! Street scum! I'm not a thief though! I've never stolen anything!"

Caressing her hair, Laguna nodded slightly, "I know you're not," he agreed. "I'll handle this tomorrow, alright?"

Sniffling, Kaiyou nodded, since handing the problem over to him seemed the best thing to do. _She_ would have made a mess of things. _She_ also didn't want to deal with it and was more inclined to suffer in silence the pain of being accused of being all the things she was not by a total stranger. And also, while she wanted a bath and out of her irritatingly odd fitting clothes, Laguna's hugs were nice, so she stood there, taking the affection he wanted to give her and cherishing it.

"...Laguna," she said quietly after a time, "They... s-said... you were my...dad. Did you – did you tell them...that?"

"I did," he admitted.

Lifting her head, she leaned back slightly, looking up at his face, "C-can I –" she hesitated, breathless and wide eyed, "call you Dad?"

Breaking into a grin, Laguna kissed her forehead, "I'd love it if you did!"

Unexpectedly, Kaiyou burst into tears and threw herself against his chest again as a memory formed and shattered in the back of her mind.

* * *

Jerking awake with a start, Sora sat up, panting in a cold sweat. Lifting a hand, he wiped his brow. Confused, he glanced around, finding that he was still in Merlin's house, the old wizard sleeping on the third bed in the loft evidenced by the sound of the old man's snoring, Leon in the second, quiet and still. Taking a breath and letting it out, he started to lay back, then paused as he looked down over the side of his bed, finding his side-packs on the floor, one of which was glowing. 

"Another? So soon?" Sora whispered and leaned down over the edge of the bed to pull his side-pack up beside him. Opening it, he pulled out the book inside. This time, it was an entry quite near to the front, and Sora resolutely took a breath and turned to the page, unaware that Leon had sat up in his own bed and was staring over at him.

Gazing into the book, light surrounded him, and after a moment, opened his eyes to find himself standing in the white expanse of whiteness, except... it almost seemed as if his eyes had begun to adjust to the lack of colors. "Umi?" he called...

And got no answer.

Looking around, he frowned, slowly turning as his feet crunched in the snow.

Silence met him. An eerie silence.

"Umi?" he shouted louder.

The air rippled, and drawing his Keyblade, Sora spun around, hunting for the source. And at last, he found it. A hole in reality looked like it had been liquefied, and Umi stepped out, looking cold and distant as ever. The air behind her froze again and re-solidified into the light nothingness.

"What took you?" Sora asked, stepping out of his stance.

For a moment, Umi didn't answer, then suddenly launched herself at him.

Yelping in surprise, Sora dodged back, narrowly avoiding getting stabbed by the spikes on her fists. Swinging around to face her as she went past, Sora blocked her next swing with his blade, then retaliated with a backhanded slash.

Umi dived backwards, rolling across the ground as Sora advanced on her, stabbing after her with his Keyblade. In mid-roll, she grabbed a handful of snow, flinging it into his face, and though he automatically blocked by turning his gauntlet into a shield, he was distracted long enough for her to get to her feet again. Spre was distracted long enough for her to get to her feet againIn mid-roll, she grabbed a handfull blocked by turning his gauntinting back towards him, she threw another punch, this one low, which connected with his stomach before he had time to even realize she was on him again.

Knocked off his feet, Sora crashed to the ground, losing hold of his Keyblade in the process. Pushing himself up to get his feet under him, he looked up just in time to see her grab up his Keyblade. Sora didn't have time to tell her that he could take the blade from her at any time, for she was upon him again, slashing with his Ultimate Keyblade.

Rolling away, Sora tried to put some distance between them to call his Keyblade back to his hand, but every time he tried, she was there again. Almost as if warping space around herself, Umi was never more than a step away, driving him backwards with hard slashes until he tripped and landed hard against something solid in the whiteness where there'd been nothing before.

Poised over him, she lifted the Keyblade and slashed downwards.

Panicked, he lifted his arm, squeezing his eyes shut as the sword descended.

At the strange chiming clang of blade on blade, Sora opened his eyes again and gasped as he found a long spike of crystal extending off the bracer of his left arm. Umi stood patiently, Ultimate blade pressed against his block. Gathering his feet under him, Sora shoved her backwards.

The heels of her boots catching in the snow, Umi stumbled, just as Sora leapt forward, left arm flicking quickly across her upper chest, breaking the cord of the pendant that hung there. Launching himself after the flying ornament, Sora flipped, catching it in mid air and turned towards Umi once he landed.

For a moment, the blonde girl stood there, staring at Sora, one hand lifted to her neck, which was undamaged. "You win," she acceded, then threw his Keyblade towards him. Catching it by the hilt, Sora had to quickly close his eyes as the scenery shattered in a flash of light.

When the light cleared, Sora blinked at the scenery he found himself in.

"...where..." he murmured, as he turned slowly, "is this?" He was standing in a room with hardwood floors, wood paneled walls, and six beds. There was little in the way of decoration in the room, other than night tables with a single lamp and small clock, but otherwise, the room looked very barren.

A soft sniffle from the corner beneath the single window at the end of the room made Sora turn, and finally, he spotted the small child curled beneath the last bed in the room.

"...Aros," Sora murmured and stepped closer, kneeling on the floor to look under the dust ruffle at the young boy. "Hey," he said gently. This time, Aros was even younger than before, appearing to be about six or so. His eyes were swollen red, nose running, face flushed, and he flinched when Sora reached in to touch his hair. "Hey, don't be afraid of me," he said gently.

Aros didn't say anything, just stared at Sora with a hard glare.

Glancing around, Sora made a decision and tucked the dust ruffle up before reaching beneath the bed to haul Aros out bodily, holding the boy against his chest as he squirmed.

"Stop it," Sora said as he sat back on the floor, "I'm here to help you feel better, but how can I if you won't let me?"

Breaking into a ragged sob, Aros turned his face and grabbed Sora's shirt with one hand, the other clutching his pendant. Silently, the elder brunet boy sat and caressed Aros's hair, rocking him, "Tell me what happened?"

Instead of answering, Aros just shook his head.

"Please? Won't you tell your big brother?"

Eyes widening, Aros looked up at Sora, fresh tears leaking down his cheeks, "...B...big...brother?" the child whispered, then latched onto Sora again, "Take me home!" Aros sobbed, "I hate this place! Everyone's so mean to me. Gary's mean to me. He says- he says..." Aros's voice dropped to a whisper once more, "He says I talk too much. He said that's why I wasn't adopted today - because I'm bad and I mess up things. I'm always messing up things. Everything I do, I mess up. And I talk too much!" Aros bit his lips together, sniffling again as he soaked Sora's shoulder.

Wrapping his arms more firmly around Aros, Sora shook his head, "No... no, Gary is wrong. You don't mess everything up," he insisted, "You're a good boy. You'll get a family someday. I promise."

"I want... I want a mommy and a daddy... Will you take me home?" Aros whispered.

Petting Aros's hair, Sora gently rocked the child as he promised, "I'll take you home with me. When we meet in person, when you're ready to be with me. I promise. You'll have a place in my home."

"You...will?" Aros whispered, not quite believing him perhaps. "Take me away now?" he begged, "I don't want to be here!"

"I can't, I'm sorry," Sora sighed, feeling terrible to have to tell that to the child.

Aros burst out crying again, and Sora carefully picked the boy up and sat on the edge of the bed, Aros in his lap. "It wasn't because of you that you weren't adopted, I'm sure," he said instead, trying to focus on something else, "Something else must have stopped them? Maybe... Maybe it was Gary?"

"G- Gary? But-" Aros gasped, sitting up again, nearly knocking Sora in the chin with his head, "But Gary is..." Aros paused, biting his lower lip, "Gary is always doing stuff and blaming it on me!" he realized finally, "Gary is... is... is..." he stammered, not knowing the word to say what Gary was.

"A backstabber," Sora supplied. "A liar."

Nodding at that, Aros put his head against Sora's shoulder again and cried all the harder as he came to realize that the one he'd trusted was really out to hurt him. "No one likes me!"

"I like you," Sora insisted, then went so far as to say, "you're my little brother, I love you."

Crying too hard to say anything further, Aros clutched at Sora with one hand, the other still latched onto his pendant. For what seemed an hour, he sat there, hugging Aros until he finally fell asleep. Carefully trying not to wake the boy, Sora lifted Aros up and tucked him into the bed they'd been sitting on. Still, Aros hadn't let go of his pendant and Sora sighed softly after looking around. "Goodbye for now," he whispered, brushing Aros's hair back from his face, "Till we see each other again." With that, he pried the child's death-grip open and stepped back.

Light flashed around him and after blinking away the blue dot-special, Sora shook his head and looked around, finding Umi standing next to what was unmistakably a gravestone. Taking a breath, Sora turned towards her. "Does he know the real story?" he asked, "Is it in the book?"

Umi nodded silently.

Then, he was blinded again and realized that he was sitting up in bed with the book in his lap, the pages faintly sparkling still. "...read it in the morning," he muttered and closed the book, setting it on the night table before falling back down into bed, feeling exhausted.

* * *

Yawning behind her hand, Kaiyou sat at Dagger's breakfast table in her elegantly decorated royal apartment, having been led down there by a tall slender rat woman servant. It had been odd, but at least she'd been able to wear her regular clothes instead of those horrible things she'd worn the night before. The room bore a decidedly pale yellow color scheme, and matched with the light of the morning sun streaming in through the opened doors of the balcony on the other side of the room, it was actually a very nice place. Kaiyou liked it anyway, though yellow wasn't generally her favorite color. 

However, she wasn't exactly in the mood to appreciate the room or the morning sunlight. After all, she'd dreamed again last night, this time, she'd dreamed about all the nasty things Gary had done in their childhood the first years they were together in that orphanage... She remembered with utter clarity how he'd blamed every one of them on her.

And though she remembered it, Kaiyou couldn't quite drag up the emotional energy to be upset about the things he'd blamed on her.

_'No... I think I'm more angry than upset, but this fury is just simmering in the pot.'_ Taking a breath, she let it out, placing her hands on her knees beneath the table, spreading her fingers as far as they would go. What really was bothering her, though, was how she'd been told that a nice couple had wanted to adopt her only to be told a week later that they'd changed their minds, and when she'd gone crying to Gary, he'd told her it was her fault.

_"You're a bad girl. They found out how bad you are. You talk too much. You never shut up. They don't want someone like that..."_

"Aros?"

Blinking, Kaiyou lifted her head, realizing first that Laguna had already finished his first cup of coffee, and second, that Dagger had finished her toast. Dagger, wearing her hair down today, was dressed in a creamy satin gown, although it was a lot less full in the skirt than the dress she'd been wearing the night before. "Something wrong?" she asked.

Shaking her head, Kaiyou replied, "No... just didn't sleep all that well. It's alright, no need to worry." Blushing, she looked down again as Dagger stared at her, hands on her hips. "It was just bad dreams is all." Lifting her head, she continued, putting on a smile, "I'm okay, I promise."

The three of them, unfortunately, weren't alone. Otherwise, Dagger would have pressed the point further, but it was the presence of the servant who was currently pouring Laguna's next cup of coffee that prevented her from saying anything. Kaiyou was glad for that, actually, she liked Dagger, but she didn't want to burden the queen with such petty things.

_'...Boy.'_ Kaiyou thought absently as she picked up her cooling cup of coffee finally and sipped it, staring off into space, _'Sora called me a boy in my memory. He called me Aros. No wonder I've always been confused about my gender. ...but his promise.'_

Closing her eyes, she thought back, _'He said I'd always have a place in his home... I've got Laguna now, but... Sora's been so persistent in helping, I think I should talk to him...'_

_'Yes,'_ Umi replied, _'I think you should.'_

Excited, Kaiyou smiled slightly into her cup as Laguna and Dagger talked about making an alliance between Esthar and Alexandria, _'You're back! I thought you'd left me.'_

Gustily, Umi sighed, _'I've been a little occupied,'_ she admitted, _'You know I can't leave you. Nor would I want to.'_

Warmed, Kaiyou sipped her coffee and looked off towards the view of sky and the roofs of Alexandria she could see through the opened doors of the balcony, the sunlight glowing off the marble floor. _'Thank you. I think I'm beginning to love you too, Umi.'_

Amused by the girl's words, Umi snorted.

_'Umi... Is it possible that the Sora from now is going back in time and changing my past? Can he do that?'_ Kaiyou had to ask as silence fell at the table, but she was too lost in thought to realize this.

_'No. But he can change your perspective on the past,'_ Umi admitted.

Finally, Kaiyou blinked, coming back to reality as she realized the silence had dragged on for quite some time. Looking from Laguna to Dagger, she blushed as she found them looking at her in return. "What?" she demanded.

"Just wondering what you were thinking," Laguna chuckled, "Was it about a _girl_?"

Flushing pink, Kaiyou lifted her coffee, "Dad, shut up," she sneered, although she didn't sound nearly as menacing as she could have and by the silly grin on Laguna's face, he'd not taken her seriously at all. Realizing what she'd just said, Kaiyou blushed, _'Why does he always get so happy when I call him that? Did none of his children ever call him that?'_ and when another thought occurred to her, Kaiyou looked over to find Dagger smiling as well, eyes sparkling. _'She's... happy to have heard me say that. But she thinks I'm kidding, I think...'_ despite her blush, Kaiyou turned and flashed a grin and wink at Dagger, making the queen's eyes widen, then she too smiled and the exchange went over the attending servant's head completely.

However, the moment was ruined by the rattling clank of a large figure in plate-armor as he came stomping into the room. Kaiyou winced and looked away, determined to not say anything – then belatedly recalled that she'd already told Laguna and it was too late. Not wanting to be present for the reaming the man was about to get, Kaiyou set her cup down, "Um... I'm just going to go ...get some fresh air now," she mumbled and started to get to her feet.

Levering a finger at her, Steiner roared, "Now you wait just a moment!"

Flinching quite visibly, Kaiyou leaned against the table as her heart began to thunder in her chest, unable to sit down again, unable to turn to face him. While he'd not said anything terrible yet, his tone of voice was clear enough. She was about to get chewed out. Dagger and Laguna remained where they were, completely shocked. Clanking further into the room, Steiner came to a stop, "Your Majesty," Steiner addressed the queen, "That young man is a liar," judging by the sounds, he'd levered a finger at her, "a thief, and delinquent."

"Steiner-" Dagger started, but was run over by the man's steaming rage.

"I have it on good word that he is not President Laguna's son and his name isn't Aros! He's also a convicted thief, arsonist, and thug!"

Again, Dagger tried to object, but Steiner continued, "I do not approve of your association with him! He's using you to gain power!"

Fingers curling in, Kaiyou hunched her shoulders as fury began to override her usual lock-up when accused of things she'd not done. Slamming her hands on the table, she straightened and turned, intending to just step out onto the balcony before she did something she might regret.

"Hey!" Steiner clanked, jumping up and down several times in impotent fury, "Now you stop right there!"

She did not turn around though she did stop when Steiner grabbed her arm in a pinching grip. Temper snapping finally, Kaiyou spun around, pulling free of his grip. "Look you," she growled, "The only reason why I haven't hit you is because Garnet trusts you with her life and that at least deserves some respect out of me - but the least you can do is return the favor and not rip into her other friends just because you've got a rusty nail up your butt!" Barely even pausing for air, Kaiyou continued, voice already raised past normal speaking volume when she'd started fairly quietly, and still, she was getting louder with every word that fell from her lips, "My past is _my_ business and right now, you don't rate very high on my list of people I'm willing to talk to about it! Garnet and I are _Just Friends_ and there _can_ never and _will never_ be anything more than that between us! So. _Lay._ _OFF_!"

Fists clenched at her sides, Kaiyou stepped back, blushing as she realized that her sudden screaming fit at Steiner had left everyone in the room gaping at her. She wasn't sorry, though, and after a glance at Dagger and Laguna, she turned and stalked onto the balcony, really needing that fresh air. She'd had her say, now Laguna and Garnet could handle the retard.

"Captain Steiner," Dagger said in a firm tone that Kaiyou knew meant trouble for the man. Closing her eyes and withdrawing to the other side of the balcony, she tried to block out the sound of their voices, but she could still hear, "I do not appreciate your outbursts and accusations. You have no right to accuse him of such things. He is a good man and I trust him with my life, your information is faulty."

"But-" Steiner objected.

"Who did you hear all that from anyway?" Laguna asked, and though his voice sounded pleasant, Kaiyou couldn't help but shiver and imagine the expression on his face. Opening her eyes, she tried to push away those thoughts by contemplating the horizon. It didn't help. She felt dizzy.

"A man who said he knew Lord Aros," Steiner defended.

"Did he have black hair?" Laguna asked, "Long black hair, about six feet tall, wearing a white coat?"

"Why yes-"

"Captain Steiner! That man has been trying to kill Lord Aros. That man is the one who kidnapped me!" Dagger interrupted and the sound of china rattling on the table told Kaiyou that the queen had slammed her cup down a little harder than necessary. "Order your men to dispose of that man should they see him."

"But- without trial?" Steiner gasped.

"That man is evil," Dagger stated, "I've already seen enough of his deeds first hand to know that he deserves no mercy. He is to be –" she paused, "He is to be killed on sight."

_'She sounds so strong,'_ Kaiyou couldn't help but observe in wonder. _'I kinda wish I was a man now, so I could be with her.'_

_'You love her,'_ Umi stated, _'But not like that, nor would the relationship be one of equals.'_

Bowing her head with a sigh, Kaiyou leaned against the balustrade as Laguna spoke up once more, "And I do not appreciate you calling my child a liar, for by doing so, you call me a liar as well. Aros _is_ mine, by blood, and your informant does not know the whole truth, nor do we wish to divulge it to just anyone. It would do you good to learn to hold your tongue, sir, such outbursts in front of less forgiving allies could put your queen into situations best avoided. I would normally require you to apologize to Aros, however, I don't think he wishes to speak to you right now."

_'No, I don't. Thank you, Dad.'_ Kaiyou sighed, fingers clenching and unclenching on the intricately carved stonework.

"President Laguna has a point," Dagger replied, "However, we will speak about this later. You are dismissed, Captain."

For a moment, silence fell, and finally the sound of a sharp clank made Kaiyou flinch, but apparently, it was Steiner saluting, for his footsteps rattled out of the room and faded into the distance.

"Kaiyou?"

Flinching again at the soft voice nearby, she turned to look over her shoulder at Garnet as she came gliding out through the doors, "I-" Kaiyou said softly turning to face the queen with her eyes downcast, "I'm sorry- I ...lost my temper with him."

Coming to a stop in front of Kaiyou, Dagger smiled slightly as she placed a hand on her arm. "It's alright," she said softly, "Steiner is overprotective sometimes." Lifting her hand, she touched Kaiyou's face lightly. "Do you really feel that way?" Dagger asked softly, "That there can't be anything more than friendship between us?"

"I... yes. I'm sorry," Kaiyou admitted and blushed. "But you said you have someone else." Slowly, Dagger nodded and turned to place her hands on the balustrade. "Dagger..." Kaiyou said softly, leaning against the balustrade next to the newly crowned queen. "Tell me about him?"

Looking over, the brown-eyed girl blinked, her brows raising, "Him?"

Blushing, Kaiyou shuffled a boot on the ground, "The guy you love. What's his name? What's he like? Where is he?"

Smiling slightly, Dagger looked back out towards the gardens, past the cemetery, towards the water that separated the castle from the town. "His name is Zidane," she started, "He's very sweet, and chivalrous. We met earlier this year." She paused, taking a breath. "I'm sorry, it's difficult to talk about. A lot of things happened."

Kaiyou nodded, "I know what that's like. If ...you don't want to-"

Eyes wide, Dagger turned to look up at Kaiyou, "No, it's not that," she said and placed a hand on the taller girl's shoulder with a tender smile. Sliding her hand down Kaiyou's arm, Dagger took her hand and placed it on the balustrade. "My father died some time ago," she started, "And my mother, the queen, was so distraught about it that she... went mad, I suppose. She started listening to a sorcerer named Kuja, who was really manipulating her. He convinced her to attack my uncle Cid, whom you haven't met yet." Looking up at Kaiyou again, Dagger said, "I should introduce you." Kaiyou nodded, simply because she didn't think she had anything else she needed to be doing or anywhere to be going. Why not spend more time with Dagger.

Taking a breath, Dagger returned to her story. "On my birthday, mother hired the acting group Tantalus to perform my favorite play, 'I Want to be Your Canary', and at the same time, my uncle had hired them to kidnap me because he couldn't get the chance to see me otherwise, Mother... was no longer herself. She was about to wage war on him and Lindblum, and he wished to prevent that by asking me to convince her to stop. Zidane was the one who kidnapped me, though I'd already made up my mind to sneak onto the theater ship and go to Lindblum anyway." She laughed softly, "I've decided that I didn't run away, I was kidnapped."

A faint smile crossed Kaiyou's lips, "I could never be that cool," she admitted softly, "Suavely swinging in and kidnapping a beautiful princess."

Dagger giggled and turned, hugging Kaiyou, "You're chivalrous in your own way, Kaiyou. But that's exactly what Zidane did – he came swinging in and snatched me away. On our way to Lindblum, we found that Kuja was making an army of Black Mages, they're ...well, they almost look like Heartless, only they wear large pointy hats."

"Do they often go by numbers instead of actual names?" Kaiyou asked. "Although... Vivi didn't."

"Vivi?" Dagger gasped, "You know Vivi?"

Kaiyou blinked, "Yeah, seems everyone here does too. I saw him in Twilight Town. He was alright, I'm gonna offer him a ride back here anyway. Should I tell him you're worried about him too?"

Nodding, Dagger hugged her again, "Yes, please! No one has seen him since that incident four years ago... when the world disappeared, and when it came back, Kuja was here."

Kaiyou gave a soft murmur of a, "hmmm," not sure what exactly Dagger meant about the world disappearing.

However, the queen went on, "Kuja turned out to be a construct, working for another world that was dying and wished to annex this world and create itself anew. But he went mad when he realized that he would be dying soon and tried to destroy all life. We defeated him, but Zidane... felt he had to go back and keep Kuja company as he died. They were technically brothers, after all. ...Zidane hasn't been back since, though. I...don't know if he's ever coming back."

Turning to face Dagger, Kaiyou took the queen's shoulders, "Believe in him!" the taller girl encouraged, "I'm sure he loves you as much as you love him. He'll come back. How could he not? You're worth it."

The smile that Dagger turned on her was beautifully blinding, "You're right," she said breathlessly, "Thank you." Stepping forward, she hugged Kaiyou once again.

Stepping back, she took Kaiyou's hands between hers, "Let's finish breakfast now and I'll introduce you to Uncle Cid and Eiko. They're very curious about you."

Kaiyou flushed, "Alright," she agreed softly and let Dagger lead her back into the breakfast room. Laguna was still sitting at the table, wearing an incredibly disgruntled expression, but upon seeing Kaiyou, the frown melted away.

"You okay?" he asked.

Nodding, Kaiyou took her seat beside him again after handing Dagger into her own. "Yeah," looking down briefly, she took a breath and smiled at him, hesitating before blurting, "'love you, Dad."

In retrospect, Kaiyou supposed that she should have known how Laguna would react to being told that. After a moment of staring at her, mouth open, eyes wide, Laguna broke into a broad grin, nearly tumbling out of his chair to latch onto her. Flailing, Kaiyou tried to pry him off, blushing crimson as Dagger and the servant woman watched the show, laughing behind their hands.

Finally shoving the excited man off her and back into his own chair, Kaiyou hunched down in her seat, concentrating on actually eating her breakfast as she recalled. _'I stood up to Steiner! I actually fought BACK when he started yelling at me!'_ Elation at her sudden realization made her grin to herself as Dagger and Laguna went back to talking about other unrelated topics, leaving Kaiyou to her own contemplations, which was nice since she had nothing of value to really say.

_'I'm proud of you,'_ Umi said, _'That was a very good job.'_

_'I love you, too, Umi,'_ Kaiyou told the voice in her head.

* * *

_AN: I am SO VERY sorry for taking so long with this chapter. It's just, I've been involved with a marathon sewing spree lately. We're trying to get 16 costumes for a Bleach Cosplay group completed as quickly as possible so that we'll have them done in time for AWA (if any of my readers are going to that, drop me a review! I'd love to meet you!) While hakama aren't difficult to make, the pleats are tedious... I've also discovered that writing and sleep deprivation don't exactly get along. I think I like updating on Odd days instead of Even better. I got used to it last month, so yeah, I'm switching back and will try to have the next chapter written on time. I've just kinda gotten to a spot where I didn't have any individual scenes in mind, so it's taking longer to write than other stuff I'd already had semi-scripted in my head. Anyway! Thanks for your patience!_

_Next Chapter: It's the end of the world! Sora is ANGSTING! And a visit with Tron._


	52. Eating Worms

_Chapter 52_

_(Eating Worms)_

Morning light shining through the window woke him, and Sora sat up slowly, feeling much better today than he'd been the day before. After stretching his arms above his head with a jaw-cracking yawn, he looked over at the other two beds in the loft, finding that Merlin was still asleep, but Leon's bed was empty and made. Wondering where the man had gone, Sora pushed the blankets off, then paused as he looked towards the night stand.

_'The book is gone!'_ Getting to his feet, he hunted around, looking under the bed, in his packs, in the drawers of the night stand, in the blankets but the book was nowhere to be found. Horror at the idea of the Heartless having the book, Sora hurried to pull his shoes on and buckled on his side-packs, forgetting to remake the bed after he'd torn it apart and hurried down the stairs in a blind panic. _'What am I gonna do? How am I going to figure out where they took the book? Leon- maybe he knows something?'_

Pausing at the foot of the stairs and looking around, Sora found his companions scattered in makeshift futons across the floor. Khimari's ear twitched, and Sora feared that he'd woken the creature, however, when the Rhonso didn't move otherwise, Sora was reassured that the big blue beast was still asleep. However, his quick scan of the room also revealed that Leon was not there.

Carefully stepping over Donald on his way to the door, Sora opened the latch carefully and stepped out into the light of the dawn and just as carefully closed the door behind him.

"You're up early."

Yelping, Sora spun around to look at Leon, who was leaning against the wall beside the door. Frowning, Sora straightened, "Yeah," he admitted, "Leon- uh. There was a book on the stand beside my bed – well, it should have been there, have you seen it?"

Leon paused briefly, then asked, "What is it?"

"It's a book! It's got a green cover-"

Lifting a hand and cutting Sora off, the older man stated, "That wasn't what I meant. What _is_ it?"

Pressing his lips together, Sora sighed, "It's something important."

"Don't give me that evasive garbage," Squall stated.

"It's Aros's journal," Sora finally admitted.

Eyes falling half lidded, Squall folded his arms, pushing off the wall to stand squarely in front of Sora. The effect was impressive and Sora almost caved, but instead, he lifted his chin, "What's in it isn't your business," he said firmly. "Have you seen the book? I need it back."

"Why?"

It really was such a simple question, but it drove Sora to the brink of madness and he gripped his hair in a frustrated growl and stomp, "Because I do!" Sora snapped back. "Quit being a prick and just tell me if you know where it is!"

Turning away, Squall instead stated, "I need your help. Something's wrong with Tron. He's not responding."

Levering a finger at Leon, Sora snapped, "Don't you change the subject. You took it, didn't you?"

For a second, Squall stood where he was, back to Sora, then finally, he drew in a breath and stated, "It was in code, I took it to Tron to see if he could decode it. Something happened though..."

Irritated, Sora stalked past Squall, heading down the road towards the bailey. Starting after him the elder brunet stated, "Look, just tell me what it is?"

"It's a Door into Aros's past, alright?" Sora grumbled, "You could have just asked me in the first place. And you've probably fried Tron's circuits trying to decode the thing, the content is locked."

Squall fell behind slightly, then lengthened his stride to catch up again.

Hurrying up the stairs, Sora leapt over the low wall and onto the walkway without bothering to go to the landing. Squall slowly fell further behind as he folded his arms, frowning slightly at Sora's back. In the meantime, Sora had gotten through the tower and taken the shorter way down to the ground by recklessly hopping off the ledge. Straightening from his slightly rough landing that had briefly made him dizzy, Sora shook his head and shoved a hand through his hair, looking up to see Squall leaning over the ledge above.

And where Sora had thought Squall was just going to use the stairs, he suddenly leapt, landing on the paving beside Sora in a crouch and stood casually. Snorting Sora couldn't help but break a smile, "Showing off, huh?"

With a slight smirk, Leon started onwards, leaving Sora to wonder. _'He's been acting a little odd lately,'_ the younger man couldn't help but notice.

"I used to be a hero too," Leon stated as he walked, Sora catching up to walk beside him, no longer angry about the book. Well, irritated that Leon had been such a prick but not really mad either. The situation could be fixed as long as the book hadn't gone missing completely or anything.

Turning his attention towards Squall, Sora asked, "Used to?"

"..." the elder brunet started to say, then closed his mouth.

"I think you're still a hero," the Keyblade Master insisted.

"Whatever."

Sighing, Sora shook his head, "You're too hard on yourself, you know that? Sometimes things just happen and you can't change the past. You just... have to get over it, I guess." Sora sighed, unable to really articulate what he wanted to say, probably because he wasn't too sure about the truth of what he was saying. After all, what about Aros's past? How did he explain _that_?

Squall, however, didn't reply. In fact, he kept his mouth firmly shut, lips set in a hard thin line as they headed up the hill to the castle. Silence fell between them then, which was fine, for Sora had other things that were niggling in the back of his mind that he really didn't want to think about and keeping his thoughts centered on Aros's diary was taking all his concentration. Squall, on the other hand, had that look Riku sometimes wore when he was thinking about the stupid mistakes he'd made in the past.

However, before Sora could think of something spontaneous to do to distract Squall from his depressive thoughts, they arrived at their destination. Stepping into the computer room, Sora found that everything was about the same as he'd last seen it - the laser portal thing was still on the right wall, the terminal and screen was on the left overlooking the generators and computer banks and cooling equipment in the room below. Following Squall over to the control panel, Sora folded his arms, watching as the taller and elder brunet typed out a few lines on the keyboard. Straightening, he shook his head, "I think you're going to have to go in."

"What? By myself?" Sora complained.

Turning to look at him, Leon frowned, "Don't think you can handle it on your own?" he asked.

Sora frowned, "I don't know what I'll be up against, I'd rather have backup," he insisted.

Amused, Leon chuckled, "Amazing, you _do_ have common sense."

Frowning at him, Sora folded his arms, "I'm not stupid," he stated with a slight pout. "I'm currently at half power, too, what with Roxas running around," he sighed, "I hope _he_ found Aros..."

"Roxas?" Squall asked, looking confused.

"My Nobody," Sora smiled as he explained, "we split off, he took half my heart. We thought that... well, since I'd promised to give Aros some space for a little, we decided that Roxas would try talking to him." Nodding to himself, Sora looked back towards Squall and cocked his head, "So, you coming with me?"

Sighing, Squall nodded, "Fine," he stated, then turned to type on the keyboard. Taking a stance in front of the transport laser thing, Sora stood ready even as he wondered what exactly in the world to call the thing used to transport them. Squall stepped up beside him as the end of the rod pointing towards them lit. Closing his eyes as the machine began to turn him into data, Sora waited for the unnerving feeling of being taken apart one 1 and 0 at a time for the passage into Tron's world.

When the feeling of being unraveled abated, Sora opened his eyes, finding himself standing in the download room with Squall beside him. Looking around, Sora called, "Tron?" despite the fact that he and Squall were the only ones in the room.

Squall frowned slightly and pointed out, "Not here." Obviously.

Nodding, Sora turned towards the door and walked up the incline towards it. "Let's go find him then."

"How... do you not feel like a complete moron in these outfits?"

Looking back at Squall who was clad in a white body-suit with blue glowing lines all over it, Sora grinned, "It's just data. You're lucky we're not naked!"

Putting a hand to his forehead, squall muttered, "just like him..." thankfully, Sora didn't hear that and was already heading through the door and into the hall beyond, which was just as empty as the room they'd just left. Taking a breath, Squall headed after Sora, having little choice otherwise.

Heading onwards, Sora led the way out to the chasm, "Tron!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, but the place was eerily silent. Stepping out after Sora, Squall automatically looked around. The light was decidedly blue and glowing, the floors and walls were made of a slate-blue metal-like substance with blue lines making strange glowing patterns across it. Here and there, though were strange patches of discoloration on the floors and walls that almost looked like rot with numbers and symbols flickering within. While that was unnerving enough, Squall decided that it was the sky that really bothered him about this place. There were three images of it, one blue, one red, and one green, all slightly offset from each other and flickering like a very bad image on a dying TV screen.

Standing still for a moment while Squall caught up, Sora looked around, thankful for the company even if he didn't say anything to the taller brunet man. "This is weird," he said instead. Turning, he headed left, down past the junk data room, which he peeked into briefly, "Not here..." he muttered, though the room was oddly cluttered. Filing that thought away, Sora headed on past, down the incline towards the platform that would take him to the cells.

Squall silently followed behind him, having nothing to say simply because he didn't know what should and shouldn't have been in this strange realm. Reaching the platform, Sora turned to look up at the older man, "Let's go down to the cells and see if he's there?" he suggested and stepped onto the platform after Squall shrugged.

"This is my first time here," he admitted, "You're in the lead." Although he did think it was a little odd to be the one following. He sighed softly.

"Squall," Sora stated as the platform began moving, gazing off into the distance. The younger man's voice jerked his companion out of his thoughts but before he could turn and state that his name was Leon, Sora continued, "Sure you messed up before, but running away from it by changing your name and refusing to allow yourself to feel anything won't make it better. You said you were a hero before, and I think you're still a hero, even if you think you let everyone down. Like Hercules when he forgot to finish off the Hydra. It was a mistake, but that doesn't make him no longer a hero." Sora turned to look up at Squall finally expression honest and open.

Pain lanced through Squall's heart and he looked away without speaking. Unfortunately, Sora was not going to let that slide and stepped around to peer up at Squall's face once more. "I'm not done yet," he stated, "Riku thought he'd screwed up too, and that no one could ever forgive him for giving into the darkness, but you know what? _I_ forgave him, _Kairi_ forgave him, and our opinions were always the ones that mattered most to him. So who's opinion matters to you, Squall?"

Lips pressed into a firm thin line, Squall didn't answer that question verbally, but Sora could tell that he had a few people in mind. Straightening, the Keyblade Master continued, "Do they hate you for what you couldn't prevent?" he asked, "Or do they look back at your past deeds and know you gave it your best and that you're trying to make up for what you think is your failure?" Squall's gaze dropped from Sora's intense stare, still unable to come up with anything to say.

The platform hissed and locked into it's dock on the other side of the chasm, but Sora remained where he was for a moment longer to finish what he'd been saying, "_I_ think you're still a hero, Squall. ...I really admire you. You're a good fighter, but you're also a leader, the people of Radiant Garden really look up to you, you know? After all the problems of the past, this place really needs someone strong and confident in his abilities to protect them, and I think you're the perfect person for the job. So does Aerith, and Yuffie, and Merlin, and Cid. They all believe in you."

Lifting his eyes finally, Squall met Sora's gaze, lips pulling towards a faint smile, "...Thanks," he said finally and patted Sora's shoulder. "I'll...think on that."

Heading past the younger man, Squall stepped off the platform. With a grin, Sora turned and jogged to catch up, then lead the way to the cells. Unfortunately, they were empty, just as everything else thus far had been. Thumping his fists on his hips, Sora frowned, "Where _IS_ Tron?" he demanded of the empty hall.

_"Geeeet ooout."_

Blinking, Sora turned to look over at Squall, "Did you say that?" he asked.

Squall shook his head.

_"GET OoooU-T!"_ the voice shouted this time, pitch distorting from earsplitting high tones to a low undulating rumble that echoed through the halls.

"...Tron?" Sora called to the disembodied voice.

_"YouUuu'rrEEerr inn dAAANnGerr Ssssssssssssoooooouurrraaaa!"_ the voice told him, _"geeeet-t-t-t-t-t ouuut."_

Shaking his head, Sora shouted back, "Tron! Where are you?" the voice, however, didn't answer.

Squall, however pointed ahead, "It sounded like it was coming from that direction," he stated and started off down the hall, heading back towards the chasm. Sora nodded, jogging along behind the taller brunet as Squall took the lead. Reaching the platform again, they stepped onto it and stumbled as it jerked into motion. "I think something's wrong," Squall commented, looking down at the platform as the blue began to discolor beneath their feet like rot spreading.

Looking down, Sora stepped back to the edge of the platform, trying to avoid stepping on the spreading rot. In the center, the color deepened to black and then opened, giving view of the chasm's floor far – far – below them, blackened bits of destroyed code dripping from the hole. Looking back over his shoulder, Sora frowned as he realized they were still halfway out over the chasm.

"...great," Squall muttered, looking back the way they'd come – much too far to jump, either way.

"Tron!" Sora shouted, "What's going on? Where are you?"

_"Shhoouuurrreeeaaaaa..."_ the voice undulated, this time, sounding much closer... This time, sounding as if it were right beneath them.

Turning, Sora looked down into the chasm and gasped.

Lifting out of the depths, a sickly pale tentacle marked with red lines wrapped around the dock Sora and Squall had just left and heaving, the tentacle hoisted up a massive bloated body that looked like the bastard love-child between a mutant worm and a human. _"Sheouurerrrraa – daaannng-g-g-g-errr..."_ the monstrous creature slurred, vocals glitching so much that Sora could barely understand what had been said.

That was when the monster turned its humanoid head on a rubbery worm-segmented neck and shoulders.

Tron stared at them blankly for a moment before speaking again, _"Viiiiru-ru-ru-russs. Da-dangeerrr. Leeeaaaveee."_

Squall straightened, looking from the mutating Tron to Sora, "That must have been what Yazoo uploaded, a virus. We should get out of here."

"We have to help him!" Sora insisted, nearly stepping forward into the rotting hole in the center of the platform before he stopped himself and glanced back towards the other side of the chasm they were suspended above. Thankfully, they were still moving, despite the damage to the platform.

Shaking his head, Squall replied, "His data's been corrupted. This whole place has been corrupted. There's nothing we can do from this end, we need to get out of here!"

Tears stinging his eyes, Sora shook his head, "No!"

"Sora!" Squall snapped, "We could get infected too," he pointed down at the platform they stood on just as it banged into the dock on the other side. Leaping across the whole in the center, Squall grabbed Sora around the shoulders and dragged him back. The shorter brunet flailed as he was hauled away, staring across the Chasm towards Tron who was gazing at them in return.

Suddenly, Tron stretched himself, reaching across the chasm with his tentacle arms. Looming at them the giant worm-Tron pulled itself onto the ledge. _"Diee,"_ it slurred, no longer wearing a coherent expression.

Releasing Sora, Squall drew his gunblade as the monster reached towards him with a tentacle arm. Slashing at the offending appendage, Squall backed up a step. "Sora!" he shouted at the Keyblade Master who had not drawn his weapon yet. "This isn't Tron anymore!"

Swallowing and looking down, Sora reluctantly drew his Ultimate sword, but didn't initiate an attack as Squall continued to back up. "Tron?" he called instead, looking up at the creature looming taller above them as it pulled more of it's elongated segmented body onto the ledge. How long _was_ it, anyway, Sora had to wonder. However, his shouting only drew the monster's attention to him and lifting a tentacle, the Worm balled the end into a knot and swung it downwards.

Sora's eyes widened, "Tron-" he started to object, but got the breath knocked out of him as hands shoved him hard from behind. Rolling to his feet, Sora looked around, finding Squall too far away to have been the one to shove him.

Boots clacking on the metal plating, she landed beside him, long blonde hair floating around her white clad figure, although her dress and boots now had thin glowing blue lines decorating it and her hair looked white in this light. "Umi!" Sora gasped.

Turning to look at him, she frowned, "Idiot," as if that were his name, "Find the book and get out of here. I'll hold it off till you do."

"How are you here though?" Sora had to ask as the Worm stared down at the three of them in confusion.

"The book was uploaded. Find the book, Sora!" Umi insisted.

Pressing his lips together, looking from her to Tron and back, he finally nodded reluctantly and turned, running past Squall who turned and headed after him. The Worm let out a warbling screech that glitched and repeated several times, then lunched forward, balling both its tentacle-like appendages in an effort to crush the fleeing humans.

Umi launched into the air, landing on one of those reaching tentacles and ran along its length to the Worm's face, where she swung a hard kick into the virus's six-foot tall face. The Worm screamed again and drew back, trying to catch Umi as she leapt away, landing on its head briefly before back flipping off to land on the ground in a crouch.

Reluctantly leaving her behind, Sora tried not to look back. He had to find the book, before it got infected too. Squall was right about that much. All around them, the world had started blackening and dripping, bits of code showing through as it was rotted from the inside. "Where would the book _be_?" Sora gasped as he realized the slight flaw to this plan, which was his lack of information. Unfortunately, he couldn't go back and ask Umi, she was a bit busy at the moment. Pausing as he passed the room of junk data, Sora looked towards it, then shook his head, "No... not there." How he knew that, he wasn't sure.

"Who is that girl?" Squall asked.

"Aros's guardian," Sora replied absently, placing a hand on his chest as he panned his eyes across the scenery. When he spotted the beam of light from the central hub in the distance, Sora pointed, "It's there," and started running towards the sail dock, leaving a frustrated Squall to fall in behind him again.

With the sounds of Umi and the Worm's battle still rattling the walls, Sora reached the dock and hopped onto the sail, heading towards the controls for the ship as Squall stepped onto it. "We really should hurry," the taller brunet man pointed out.

"I know!" Sora snapped, then sighed, looking towards Squall, "But that book is important. It's got Aros's memories in it."

Confused, Squall fell silent and watched as Sora started the sail running, a torn expression on the young man's face.

* * *

Umi rolled to her feet again, her movements becoming slower as the shield she'd put on the book drained her energy. _'Hurry, Sora!'_ she begged of him silently as she stared up at the worm. She'd never fought anything like this before. The Tron-Worm was certainly a difficult opponent, but so far, she'd managed to distract it from going after Sora and the other man.

_'He looks just like Sora... I wonder if that's our elder brother, Squall?'_ she thought as the Tron-Worm paused in its attack briefly. At least there was still enough of Tron left in it to fight on her side, slowing the Worm's movements and attacks just enough for her to dodge. Unfortunately, she'd nearly fallen off the ledge four times already, been thrown across the ledge twice, and nearly smashed numerous times. Wiping her mouth with the edge of her glove, Umi licked at the blood welling from her lip.

_"s..s.soooorrrraaa?"_ the Tron-Worm glitched at her, she wasn't quite sure what he was trying to ask her, and it hardly mattered, for he balled a tentacle once more and swung it at her.

Leaping upwards, she let the tentacle fist go beneath her but was caught by his other tentacle as it wrapped around her and squeezed. Desperately, Umi kicked and wiggled, trying to free herself from his grasp, but that effort proved useless. Lifting her arms, she slammed the spikes on the backs of her bracers into the Worm's flesh. Wailing in pain and fury, the Worm drew back, slinging her out over the ledge and into the chasm.

Coughing hard, it took Umi a moment to realize why she'd not hit ground yet, but when she looked around, she cursed under her breath and drew upon what little of her power remained, opening a portal beneath her, which she splashed into, leaving the Tron-Worm confused as it stared down at where she'd been seconds ago.

* * *

Stepping off the sail, Sora jogged across the walkway towards the gap that led into the central data stream, Squall only a step behind him. At least there was a terminal here they could use to get out once they'd gotten what they needed. Reassured by that thought, Squall continued following Sora as they stepped into a large circular room with a glowing pillar in the center.

Stumbling to a stop, Sora gasped, "The Central Data Stream is corrupted too!" he pointed in dismay at the rotting black color that was flowing up through the stream, feeding into the rest of Tron's world.

"It's spreading," Squall pointed out as well, looking around at the rotting scenery. He wasn't too happy with this development either, considering that Tron's world was Ansem's computer, which also happened to be the system that was running the town's defense network, which was also connected to Cid's computer in Merlin's house, which mean that all of Cid's work was going to be trashed pretty soon. "We need to hurry up and get out of here," he pointed out. "Where's the book?"

Pulled back to the mission at hand, Sora looked around, following the tug on his heart around the room to the other side of the pillar where he found the book, glowing faintly where it sat on the floor in danger of falling through one of the rotting holes into the nothingness below. Hurrying over, Sora snatched up the book and dashed back around to rejoin Squall – just as the central data stream undulated in an abnormal wave.

Beside him, the air appeared to turn to liquid and Umi stumbled out, landing against Sora's shoulder as her portal re-solidified and closed. "Umi," Sora said, freeing a hand to support her. "Are you alright? What happened to Tron?"

"It's coming," Squall stated, answering Sora's question as the central data stream undulated again, contracted, and a pair of writhing tentacles lifted up out of the center of the pit.

Looking from the book to Umi, Sora pushed the book into her hands, "We can handle this, Umi," he told her and she looked up at him with wide ocean-blue eyes. "Take this outside to the terminal." Looking to Squall, Sora continued, "If we kill the virus then the infection should stop spreading, right?"

"I don't know if just killing this thing will work," Squall replied, then sighed, "whatever."

Staring at Sora for a second, Umi suddenly stood on her toes and placed a kiss on his cheek before gathering the book against her chest and staggering away.

Determined to at least put Tron out of his misery, Sora drew his Keyblade and fell into a stance as the Worm lifted its six-foot-tall head out of the pit, tentacles flailing and curling into strange knots. "I'm sorry, Tron," Sora shouted.

_"...K-k-killllll mmeeee,"_ Tron wailed, apparently understanding what Sora was apologizing for. Then the Worm struck, slamming its tentacles down on the floor in a random pattern as Sora and Squall instinctively dodged. Rolling aside, Sora pulled to his feet again as one of the Worm's balled tentacles hit the plating next to him. Turning, Sora slashed with his Keyblade, adding a deep gouge to the wounds already present there.

Shrieking the Worm flailed in pain, and taking advantage of it's distraction, Squall dashed in and leapt up to slice open a gash across the Worm's chest.

Writing dangerously now, the Worm drew back into the central data stream, holding itself out of reach of their blades for a moment before it stretched its tentacles forward and began trying to crush Sora and Squall once again. Rolling and diving, Sora barely managed to avoid getting hit or falling into one of the rotting holes in the floor. Finally managing to get to his feet, he hacked at the tentacle again, making a matching bloody slice near where he'd left the first.

In fury driven by pain, the Worm swung its other tentacle over before Squall could make a move and caught Sora, slinging him across the room to hit the far wall with a hard crash. Falling to the floor, Sora lay where he was for a long moment, staring groggily at nothing. Worried, Squall started to try and make his way across the room, but the Worm turned its full attention to him and he was forced to defend himself.

Leaping back, he dodged one sweep of a tentacle, then got knocked flat by a sweep from the other direction. Rolling to his feet quickly, Squall turned and slashed at the nearest tentacle, finishing Sora's work on it and severing the end off. The ear-piercing wail that resulted from the unexpected amputation had Squall on his knees and helpless as the worm grabbed him and threw him hard against the wall.

"Hyah!" Sora shouted as he stabbed his Keyblade into the worm's unprotected shoulder as it leaned close enough for the slightly recovered young man to attack. Turning, the worm backhanded Sora across the room again, but he landed on the floor and rolled to his feet, calling his Keyblade back to his hand.

Clenching his left fist, Sora took a breath and called upon the power of the bracer on his left arm. In a flash, it turned into the long spike he'd learned to make the night before, and with another shout, he ran back in slashing at that unprotected shoulder again as the Worm turned to grab Squall by the leg. Dropping the gunblade wielder on the floor again, the Worm turned back to Sora flailing the bleeding stump uselessly at him while the other mostly whole tentacle was more of a threat. Dodging away from the balled tentacle that slammed onto the decking where he'd been standing, Sora got to his feet again to turn on that appendage as it started to lift upwards again, slicing with his Keyblade and stabbing through the offending limb with his spike.

Again, the Worm shrieked in pain, but shaking its tentacle did not dislodge Sora who found that his spike had stuck and would not come out. Taking advantage of the Worm's distraction, Squall staggered to his feet and dashed over to snatch up his fallen gunblade which he turned and shot at the Worm's face, rocking its head back several times. With a furious expression, the Worm swung the tentacle Sora was still stuck to at Squall, only to have the gunblade master leap over it and land on the appendage. Running up it's length, Squall delivered a matching slice across the Worm's chest, then leapt away as the Worm tried to bat at him with the stub of it's other tentacle. Landing in a crouch Squall dodged aside as the Worm finally managed to dislodge Sora by flinging him away, although the effort split the end of the worm's tentacle in two independently writhing halves that really weren't as useful as they might have been if they'd not been so painful.

The tentacle curled around its wound, and in fury, the Worm leaned forward to put more effort into trying to smash the bugs that were attacking it, but with only one tentacle to use, the effort only proved fatal. As it concentrated on trying to beat Sora into a pulp, Squall dashed in under the stub of the other tentacle and leapt up, stabbing his gunblade into the Worm's chest, nearly to the hilt.

Shrieking, the Worm flailed and drew back and Squall braced his feet against the Worm's chest and shoved, doing a back flip to land on the decking beside Sora as the younger man lifted his Keyblade, aiming a shot of light at Tron, hoping that by using the power of the Keyblade, they could save the poor program.

In a flash, light engulfed the worm, but when it cleared and Sora's vision recovered, he found that the room was still rotted, but at least the Worm was gone. "...Tron..." Sora whispered softly, the spike on his left arm retracting and becoming a simple bracer once more.

Looking towards him, Squall shook his head, then turned, "We need to get out of here. Now, Sora," he stated and started limping towards the exit. With one last look towards the central data stream, Sora regretfully turned, heading after Squall. He would have assisted the other man if he weren't limping as well.

In the doorway, Umi was standing silently, staring at them with the book clutched against her chest. As he approached, she held it out to him. "Don't lose it again, idiot," she stated coldly, then stepped back into a portal that looked like reality had turned to water briefly and she was gone.

Sighing, Sora shook his head, heading over to the terminal to type in the command that would transport himself and Squall from the world of Data. Again, he closed his eyes as he felt his body being unraveled into 1's and 0's, transported across space, and reassembled in the computer room in Ansem's castle. Opening his eyes again as the data transfer was completed, Sora looked around, finding Squall standing beside him, slightly bloodied and looking worse for the wear, and Aerith, Goofy, and Donald standing by the computer.

"Sora!" Goofy gasped and dashed forward, grabbing Sora into a tight embrace.

Eyes widening in pain, Sora gasped, "G-Goof, not so hard!" he wheezed and staggered when Goofy let him go abruptly. Sitting down on the floor, Sora shook his head and looked down at the book in his lap. It didn't look any worse for wear at least.

"Where've you been?" Donald demanded to know, "What happened? Why didn't you wake ush up?"

Shaking his head, Sora sighed as he slid the book into his side-pack. "Sorry... Tron... Tron got infected with a virus. We...had to..." he fell silent, unable to finish that sentence.

Squall turned, limping towards the computer terminal as Aerith approached him. "Gone and undone all my hard work, I see," she sighed, folding her arms.

"...sorry," Squall muttered, making the woman in pink pause in shock. "I might be able to restore a version of Tron, but with the system corrupted as much as it is, I don't know if that would be the best of ideas."

"Gawrsh!" Goofy said, turning to approach Squall and look down at the computer screen, "What else is there to do, though?"

"Wipe the system and start over," Squall replied which made Goofy and Donald gasp in horror. Sora was shocked as well, but didn't have the energy to do more than stare at Squall.

Biting his lower lip, he climbed to his feet. "I'm gonna head back to Merlin's..." he told them, but no one was listening except Aerith who gave him a nod.

Turning and heading out of the computer room, Sora headed through Ansem's office and from there, through the warren of halls and out to the balcony that overlooked the craggy landscape around the castle and town of Radiant Garden. Not that much of it was visible.

"...Were we in there that long?" he asked, looking out across the night-dark sky studded with pinpricks of light. Other worlds... So many other worlds.

_'I can't save them all, either,'_ Sora realized adding more weight to his guilt over being unable to help Tron. Limping over to the low wall that edged the balcony, Sora climbed onto it and sat, legs hanging out over the drop-off. _'Am –I- worthy of being called a hero?'_ he had to wonder, _'Or am I still just a junior hero?'_

"Or am I just a moron?" Sora asked out loud, pulling a knee up to his chest and wrapping his arms around it as all the things he'd tried to not think about came rushing back to him at the worst possible time. "Should I even be involved in trying to help Aros? Why _am_ I involved, anyway? Other than the fact that he looks like me..."

_"Are you sure you want to do this? It might stir up memories you've locked deep within your own heart..."_ Umi's voice echoed back at him from his memories.

"What did she mean?" he wondered out loud. Sighing as loneliness gripped his heart and he slumped, leaning against his raised knee, his other foot still dangling over the ledge. He'd never noticed how much he liked having a constant companion, it was like Roxas was fulfilling some longing he'd never noticed he'd had till now. But Roxas wasn't the one he wanted to talk to.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Sora returned to the previous topic, "Memories... my memories. Why is it that I've got so much power over what other people remember?" he had to ask. "And yet, I've got gaping holes in my own head that I didn't even realize were there."

Taking Laguna for instance - it was odd how until Squall had mentioned it, Sora hadn't realized that Laguna was really the missing President Loire. It wasn't like Laguna had hidden it. But Sora's only thought upon seeing the man for the first time in person was... that he looked kinda familiar.

Now that Leon had spoken Laguna's last name, the memories had snapped back into place. All those Esthar history courses he'd had to take in school that had been a complete haze had come back with disturbing clarity in an instant that left Sora nearly breathless and glad for Yuffie's distractions.

So Laguna, the mage, was the president of the country that had banned magic... Esthar; the country that Destiny Islands were part of, the country that Sora's mother, Ellone, was now president of due to inheriting the position from her missing husband.

...Therefore.

Sora swallowed, pulling his knee against his chest, "God... How _stupid_ could I possibly be?" he muttered, "It's not like I've not seen him in textbooks! It's not like I don't have a picture of him and mom in my dresser at home!" Not that he'd looked at the thing in years.

His complete _blank_ on the issue, even after meeting the man was so embarrassing! And terrifying. "What else have I completely forgotten?" he had to ask.

Lifting his face slightly, Sora set his chin on his knee and sighed, thumping the heel of his other foot against the stone beneath him. "Maybe that's why Squall was laughing... I'm such an idiot."

"Maybe. And maybe there's something more to it than that."

Sitting up with a start, Sora turned partially to look back at Leon as he strode through the moonlight towards him. "Figured I'd find you up here," the brunet stated, "I set the others to hunting down data disks in Ansem's study, but Donald and Goofy are going to notice you're gone pretty soon."

Blushing, Sora looked away, then recalled what Squall had said, "What did you mean... when you said there's something more to it?"

Folding his arms as he came to a stop beside Sora, Squall stated, "The power to affect memories is in your blood. If you want to find out what else you've Forgotten, you're going to have to break the bonds she placed on you on your own."

Shifting, Sora turned partially to look up at Squall, his heart pounding hard in his chest. "Forgotten..." he whispered, eyes wide, "Namine wouldn't have..."

Squall just shook his head, "That's all I'm going to say about it," he stated and started off. "You'll wise up eventually... I did."

Pouting slightly, Sora stared after Squall as the man headed back the way he'd just come, leaving the young man to his own thoughts. Resting his chin on his knee again, Sora pursed his lips in thought, since Squall had so nicely given him that little bit of reassurance that his forgetfulness wasn't entirely due to his own stupidity.

"Does that mean..." he stopped there as the light came on in his head, "That must mean my forgetting my sister wasn't my fault either. ...Someone _made_ me forget. But who?" That right there was the real stumper. Who else could possibly have that sort of power over him – other than Namine, but she'd promised she'd never touch his memories again.

_"I got to know you perhaps a little better than I wanted to,"_ she'd told him through Kairi's mouth. _"Don't worry, I won't tell her EVERYTHING."_ And though she'd promised that, Sora was still worried about what she _would_ choose to tell Kairi.

Taking a breath, Sora sighed, staring out across the barren landscape beyond the walls of the town, frowning slightly.

_'Then again... Laguna didn't seem the least bit disturbed by the fact that I didn't seem to know who he was. In fact, he introduced himself to me, and if he'd expected me to remember him, he wouldn't have.'_ Well, he thought anyway. With that resolved in his mind, Sora sighed in relief. "So... next time I see him, I'll surprise him," the brunet decided and turned his thoughts to other topics... like what else he'd forgotten.

_"Sora, Sora, Sora,"_ Her voice echoed in his mind.

Closing his eyes, Sora squeezed them shut as he recalled the end of his dream where the girl in his dream had turned into Aros.

"That pendant..." he whispered, "Aros has one, Umi has one... That girl from my dream kept turning into Umi in my dream."

Reaching for the pendant at his own throat, Sora clenched his fingers over the sharp prongs, hoping that the pain would make him remember _something_.

Then it hit him. Kaiyou knew Umi too!

_"...You can't be sad. That's my job. And Umi's job is to be obnoxious and sarcastic and warn me not to do things because I might get hurt..."_ Yes, that's what she'd said.

What was the connection between the three – Umi, Aros, and Kaiyou?

"Shora?"

Jogged from his thoughts, Sora sat up and looked back at Donald. "Shora, what'sh wrong?" the duck asked as he approached.

Pausing before he just said, "nothing," Sora thought quickly and replied with something closer to the truth, "I... just needed a bit of time to think. I'll be alright," he said and managed to smile. Turning, he placed his feet on the ground and stood, "Let's get back inside and look for those disks Squall wanted." With that, he limped past Donald, heading back inside, leaving the duck to stare after him with a worried expression.

* * *

_AN: So very sorry for the wait lately. I think I'm gonna take a break on writing for a bit and reread the story, there's things I've forgotten that need re-tying in. I also think I've lost track of Kaiyou's character again, so yeah. I'm thinking this might take a week or so, and then I'll get back to writing, and hopefully it will better quality work than what I've been turning out lately._

_Next Chapter: Something involving Demyx._


	53. Deciding Factor

_Chapter 53_

_(Deciding Factor)_

"You're _sure_ they went this way?"

Scowling, Demyx rounded on Reno, "_YES_ I'm sure!" he snapped, furious - honestly furious - for there could be no other word to describe the burning sensation in his chest where his heart should have been.

Reno just smirked.

Xigbar sighed, "You know, we really stand out in this crowd," he pointed out, eating a corndog Demyx had not seen him pay for – not that Demyx cared either way. Demyx just scowled even more darkly because he was beginning to realize that roping Xigbar into assisting had not the best of ideas he'd ever had. Letting Reno come at all wasn't all that brilliant either, for that matter.

_'At least, if he's harassing me, I know where he is. Even if I know he's spying on me. But either way, with me or not, he's probably getting the information he wants,'_ Demyx thought sourly as he tried to ignore the strange looks the three men - two in black coats and one in a ripped up three piece suit - were getting from the mixed crowd of bipedal sentient animals and scattered humans. Above the town a castle with a large crystal as the central spire loomed, and guessing by the streamers and banners, food stalls, and corner variety acts, there was a celebration going on. Though what the people of this town were celebrating, Demyx didn't know and wasn't going to ask. A short distance away, a dwarf with a big nose in a really tall spiral-striped top hat was sawing someone in half to the amazement and delight of onlookers.

Okay, so walking boldly down the center of the street wasn't exactly being covert, but then again, Demyx was a scientist and a musician, Ninja Skills hadn't been a required skill to work for Ansem, or Xemnas, or the café back in Radiant Garden when he was fifteen.

_'Over thirty and what've I got to show for it?'_ Demyx pouted, _'Though do these last thirteen years of my life really count? No, probably not, so I'm still eighteen.'_ With that decided, he nodded to himself and continued marching down the road, ignoring Xigbar's munching and Reno's bored yawns. After all, they were looking for Kosuiko! He couldn't get distracted by these nimrods when he needed to save her before something terrible happened. She had no experience with the real world, no social skills, she could get into a _lot_ of trouble!

_'Ohh... but how do I FIND her!'_

* * *

"You're sure coming out here was a good idea?" Kaiyou asked, peering up at Laguna as he strode down one of Alexandria's many streets, grinning to himself. He'd been like that all morning since she'd called him Dad. Since she'd told him she loved him. 

And she did, honestly. It was a nice warm sensation in her chest that radiated out to her fingers and toes and made her more than happy to trail along beside him as they headed through town. Above, the sky was only slightly cloudy, the sun shining warmly, a nice cool breeze counteracting the heat and fluttering the pinions and banners and streamers that still decorated the town. Kaiyou suspected they'd be celebrating for at least a week before finally putting everything away and getting back to business.

"Of course it is," Laguna replied finally, "We're not going to stay here forever, so we should go sight-see. Besides, after meeting Eiko..." Laguna glanced down at her, then placed a hand on her head, "You seemed like you needed a bit of a break."

Blushing, Kaiyou nodded slightly, "I know..." _'Yeah, that and Steiner was there, but you probably guessed that too,'_ she thought, staring up at Laguna from the corner of her eyes. _'I think this is why I love him. He's being like the dad I never had.'_

What she was _really_ wondering, though, is why Cloud had chosen to follow them.

The blonde was stalking along behind them, armed with his sword in its strange leather-strap sheath on his back, like some sort of bodyguard. In fact, his presence made people melt from their path quite nicely. She could hear faint whispers about "Lord Aros and President Laguna" out in the crowd and sighed, wondering where the leak was. _'The servants. It's always the servants in the movies.'_

Prying her eyes away from her new father, Kaiyou gazed around at the people of Alexandria, spotting a familiar tall top hat. Mister Magini was doing another show, and lo-and-behold, he was sawing someone in half. Covering her mouth, she burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Laguna asked, looking down at her, then towards where she pointed and started laughing too. "That was fun."

Kaiyou nodded in agreement, "It was. I think it's the most fun I've ever had."

Pouting at her, the mage almost looked like he was about to say something, then just lifted a hand and caressed her hair lightly, making her blush and duck away. "Eew, not in public." She cast him a look that made him burst out laughing.

* * *

"You're _sure_ you just saw Aros?" Roxas asked, looking up at Axel who was peering behind them. 

"Yeah," the redhead admitted slowly, "He had long hair though, and was wearing a dress and with Kairi."

Roxas sighed, "Now you're making things up," he stated, having chosen to disbelieve Riku when he said that Aros was a girl. After all, Riku had only heard that from someone else.

Riku snorted, folding his arms but kept whatever he might have said to himself, which was a good thing because Roxas was not in a good mood for several reasons. The first was because they'd had to share a very cheap and run-down hotel room because A: all the hotels in town were packed and B: they didn't have the money to pay for anything better. The second reason Rox wasn't very happy is because ...well, Riku. Not that Riku was doing anything particularly annoying, but Roxas still had not forgiven Riku for being a prick when they'd first met.

Taking a breath, the blonde closed his eyes briefly and scrubbed a hand across them. He was tired, hadn't slept well – Axel had kept grabbing him, and Roxas might have been mad at Axel if he'd not known that his friend was completely asleep but the happy smile he'd been wearing was... just unnerving. It was beginning to make Roxas think that there was something more to Axel's loyalty than friendship. Roxas really wanted to head back and talk to Sora about it, but on the other hand, he wanted to at least _locate_ Aros before they left.

So again, today, they were hunting through town for Aros, the three males hunting around visually while their three fairy companions, specifically Rikku, gathered gossip. They'd already found out that Laguna and Aros had gone to the castle the night before and had been introduced as President Laguna Loire and his son, Lord Aros. It made Roxas twitchy to say the least, the fact that Laguna had been conned into adopting the imposter. Though why Laguna would care was beyond Roxas's knowledge. He'd have to ask Sora about it later.

Looking up, Roxas spotted the yellow and orange fairy, Rikku hovering in the air above them and tried not to look up her incredibly small skirt. Even as he watched, she suddenly twirled around, then dived down to them.

"I saw something!" Rikku shouted as she approached, drawing looks from other people walking down the street, "there's a guy up ahead, sawing someone in half! I'm gonna get a closer look!" Before anyone could object, the yellow fairy was off. Seconds later, she returned, "The Organization is here!" she announced, flailing her arms. "They're heading this way too! I'm gonna go spy on them!" Again, she was off before anyone could say anything.

Riku sighed. Axel snorted, "She ADHD or what?"

Yuna giggled, "She's just excited," she replied, then flew straight upwards for a moment, peering into the distance with a hand over her eyes to shade them. Seconds later, she flew back down and stated, "I just saw Cloud and someone who looks a lot like Sora. They're up ahead too, walking behind the Organization Thirteen people, coming this way."

"This is no place to start a fight," Roxas pointed out, frowning as he gazed around the crowded street. "We'll have to make them follow us somewhere."

Axel smirked, lifting a hand, "Or shove them into Betwixt and Between," he replied, "Then we'll be free to show em who's boss."

Riku nodded agreement and glanced over at Roxas briefly, eyes falling half-lidded.

* * *

"You're sure we had enough munny for this?" Kairi asked, looking down at the king. 

Mickey nodded, "Don't worry about it, Kairi! It's fine."

"Wheee!" the other girl with them called, twirling to make her new dress flare out. Other people on the street turned to stare.

"She's enjoying it at least," Kairi commented, amused by the girl's antics, she looked so much like Sora, and was even acting a bit like him. Nodding in agreement, Mickey folded his arms, watching as the girl called Kosuiko bounced around cheerfully in her new dress, which was ocean blue to match her eyes. The neckline was rounded with tiny straps tied on top of her shoulders in a sundress fashion. The skirt was tied around her waist by a large white ribbon, the bow bounding on her back beneath her hair, and the skirt was scalloped edged, starting at her upper left thigh and ending at just below knee length in a diagonal. On her feet, she wore blue dyed leather knee-high boots.

"Your old clothes just weren't suited to the kind of action we're likely to be seeing," Mickey admitted, telling Kairi at least, the true reason behind his sudden spending splurge.

This time, Kairi nodded in silent agreement, and though she wasn't bouncing around excitedly like the other girl, she did like her new dress. She'd traded her sandals for sturdy brown leather ankle boots, into which she'd tucked her white leggings. At mid-thigh, the skirt of her pale pink dress began, leading up to a corset tied in front with white lace that ended beneath her breasts with straps that held it up. Covering her chest and arms was a linen shirt, tied at the wrists and decorated with lace. Remaining around her throat was the black choker she'd always worn.

On impulse, Kairi knelt and kissed Mickey's cheek, "Thank you," she said, making the king blush as she stood once more.

"Aww, shucks," Mickey replied, scrubbing his shoe into the ground.

Turning pale suddenly, the girl stopped bouncing and stumbled, falling to her knees. Worried, Kairi stepped over, hands going out to help steady the taller girl. "Are you okay?"

Opening her eyes, the girl smiled slightly, then nodded, looking down at the ground as she spotted a strange grid-like object. Curious, Kosuiko picked it up, then lifted her head to state, "We should get going... I think we've been followed." Taking Kairi's hand, she pulled herself to her feet then turned towards Mickey.

Nodding, the mouse did an about face and started walking down the street. Amazingly, he was the one who looked least out of place in this town.

Abruptly stopping as a chill ran down her spine, Kosuiko dropped Kairi's hand, then spun around abruptly, launching a punch at the man that stood behind her.

Though he hadn't expected it, Gary's hand snapped up in a block, his other reaching out to grab Kosuiko's throat – except she wasn't there for him to catch. "Run!" she shrieked and turned in a flurry of hair and skirt, high-tailing it down the street through the throng of people. Panicked and desperate, Kosuiko tried desperately to weave through the crowd, hoping that the black-haired man who'd raped her wouldn't simply destroy the people she was putting between them.

The crowd seemed to thicken as she ran, and she careened off other pedestrians. Rebounding off of a hippo man, she crashed into a silver haired boy, the shock of contacting him making her pause and look up at his widened blue-green eyes.

The world turned white in her vision.

_"What did you do to me?"_

_"You were always a tool, girl. I've just found an even better way to use you..."_

Blinking, as she realized someone had grabbed her shoulders, Kosuiko gasped, "No- don't touch me!" she pushed his hands away, dropping the grid thing she'd picked up earlier. "You're in danger – run!" Turning blindly, she staggered away, careening off a tall redhead that looked much like Reno, at least in the eyes, though wasn't wearing that sadistic smirk she'd seen him wearing when they first met.

Desperately trying to blink her vision clear, and feeling as if she were now a bead on a string tied between two objects, Kosuiko stumbled through the crowd.

"Wait!" the silver haired boy shouted behind her.

* * *

Kaiyou staggered, vision turning white briefly, and when she could see again, she found herself being supported by Laguna. "Kaiyou," he whispered, "What's wrong?" 

Putting a hand to her face, she got her feet under her and stood again, shaking her head slowly. "Oh...I – I don't know... I'm fine now, I think...?" Except she felt... odd.

"You're sure?" Laguna asked, then had to look away as commotion stirred a short ways down the street.

Lifting her own eyes, Kaiyou froze as the crowd parted and a girl with long brown hair came stumbling towards her, ocean blue eyes wide as their gazes met.

It seemed as if time froze for a second – even if she saw the two Organization members and a redhead chasing behind the girl – even if she saw behind them, a silver haired boy followed by a blonde and another redhead, and beyond them, a mouse-man and girl in pink. All that mattered at that moment was the girl with ocean blue eyes...

_"Umi?"_ Kaiyou mouthed.

_"Sora?" _the other girl responded.

Darkness erupted between them and formed into the last person she'd ever wanted to see. Stopping, Gary smirked, looking from her, to the version of herself with long hair. Turning back to face Kaiyou, Gary sneered, "I always liked you better with long hair." Opening his arms, he caught the other girl as she tripped and crashed head-first into him.

Keyblade appearing in her hand, Kaiyou shrieked, "Let her go!" swinging her weapon at head-height.

Laughing, Gary fell backwards and avoided her attack, disappearing into another portal, the girl still clutched in her arms even as she struggled to free herself. "_DEMYX!_" she shrieked at the top of her lungs as the Organization members and redhead arrived.

"Kosuiko!" the blonde Organization man called and threw out a hand, opening a portal in the same spot Gary's had been, and leapt through.

"Demyx!" the other Organization man called, stumbling to a stop as he stared at Kaiyou and her drawn Keyblade.

"Xigbar!" another voice shouted, and the Organization man partially turned.

"Roxas?" he blinked with his single eye and frowned. "But you can't be here... I just _saw_ Sora!" Turning partially, he frowned as he spotted Kaiyou behind him, then looked around, realizing that Reno was nowhere to be seen.

Skidding to a stop, Roxas drew his Keyblades, Oathkeeper and Oblivion. Without waiting for any explanation, Roxas dashed forward to attack, driving the one-eyed Organization member back. Kaiyou scampered out of the way, Laguna and Cloud moving back to flank the man as he drew his guns.

* * *

Stepping out of his portal, Demyx immediately looked around for his quarry, immediately spotting Gary where he stood holding Kosuiko against his chest. She was limp as a rag-doll. 

"Kosuiko!" he called, but she didn't answer.

Levering a finger, Demyx drew himself up to his full height, even if that was several inches shorter than the man he faced. "Give her back," he ordered, watching with wide blue eyes as Gary smirked, the hand not gripping the girl's throat grabbing one of her practically non-existent breasts.

"You're going to make me?" the Prince of Darkness leered.

"If you force me to," Demyx replied firmly, despite the fact that he knew he was about to have his rear handed to him. He swallowed and jerked his chin up in a reflexive motion, then snapped his left hand into the air above his head, a ball of water forming in his palm.

Chuckling, Gary turned, tossing the girl aside. She fell to the ground limply and the dark-haired man smirked, pacing towards Demyx like a cat. "I've studied you. You're no match for me."

Swallowing hard, Demyx threw a hand into the air, water forming in a ball above his palm. Clenching his fingers over it, he exerted his will, forming the water into his sitar. Even as Demyx drew his weapon, Gary lifted his hand, black lighting gathering in it and forming Obsidian Heart.

Leaping forward with more agility than Demyx had expected, Gary struck first and Demyx only barely managed to block with a blast of water. He didn't get the chance to counter strike, for Gary had suddenly disappeared, reappearing behind him.

Again, Demyx blocked, but Gary was no longer there. This time, the dark haired man's strike hit, knocking Demyx back a step.

Sacrificing further defensive maneuvers Demyx attacked, blasting the space he'd last seen Gary in with a shot of water, then shouted, "Dance, water dance!" calling upon his water clones to distract Gary and maybe pin him down long enough to gather the energy to send a devastating wave of water at his opponent.

Gary snapped a curse, dodging back to slash at the multiplying water-clones as they floated towards him.

Licking his lips, Demyx glanced up, eyes widening as he realized that Gary had disappeared. The sharp pain lancing through his stomach was answer enough as to where Gary had gone.

Yanking his sword out, the prince of darkness stepped back, blue eyes glinting with sadistic amusement as the water-clones disintegrated into puddles.

* * *

"Kosuiko!" Kairi shouted then stumbled to a stop as she found the strangest scene ever. 

Roxas, Axel, and Riku had their backs towards her while President Laguna, Cloud, and someone who looked just like Sora but was not, were faced against the lone Xigbar. The area around them had opened up as people stared, gaping. Mickey held a hand out, "Kairi, stay back," he ordered, drawing his Keyblade as he stepped up to join the others.

"Kairi!" a familiar voice called and Rikku dropped out of the sky right in front of her, "You're okay! How did you get out?" she blurted excitedly.

Shaking her head, Kairi looked past Rikku to the standoff, "Kosuiko helped us escape, but she was just captured by that black-haired man! We have to help her," looking back towards Rikku, Kairi put on her best pleading expression.

Gasping, Yuna darted around, then down to the ground, the strange grid-like object Kosuiko had picked up. "A Garment Grid," she shouted excitedly, "It's my Garment Grid!"

Immediately forgetting Kairi, Rikku shot over to Yuna, landing against her in a tight hug, "Yay! Yunie!" she squealed and they twirled in circles for a moment before they broke away and Yuna lifted the grid-thing above her head.

Squinting at the flash of light that resulted, Kairi blinked.

Dusting her skirt off, Yuna smiled, "I'm back!" she announced happily as Rikku danced around her head in excitement.

* * *

Kaiyou's heart pounded, beating against her ribcage like it wanted to break free... and it wasn't fear making her flush the way she was. 

His eyes were locked on her, completely ignoring the man in the Organization coat that stood between them. He was staring at her intently... just as she couldn't look away from him.

He was beautiful.

She was afraid of that beauty. After all, Gary was pretty too, and he was a bastard.

Flexing her hands on her Keyblade, Kaiyou trembled imperceptibly, wondering what the silver haired man was thinking – what he saw with those half-hidden blue-green eyes.

That was when the Organization man struck, spinning around to aim his guns at her.

Instinctively, she threw herself aside from the first shot, then rolled to her feet again, swinging her blade to block the second - inadvertently ricocheting it towards the silver-haired boy. The boy, however was ready and hit the laser blast, striking the Organization man in the back. Laguna bringing out his gun, took aim, firing a blast of ice pellets at the fellow gunner, Cloud darting in directly behind the shot to slash at the man while his guard was down.

People began shrieking and running away, chaos taking control and only the two girls and accompanying fairies off to the side remained where they were, untouched.

_'Wasn't there another redhead with the man in black?'_ Kaiyou had to ask herself, belatedly recalling the possibility of danger.

_'There was...'_ Umi replied, but her voice sounded a little distant.

Xigbar staggered back from the force of Cloud's blow and disappeared in a warping of shadows, reappearing on the wall above them. Taking aim, he began showering the group with blasts from his guns, and having little else she could do, Kaiyou dodged what she could yet took several hard hits that nearly knocked her to her knees.

Lifting her eyes just as another blast was heading straight towards her, Kaiyou gasped as she suddenly found the silver-haired boy covering her. "You alright?" he asked over his shoulder.

Heart lodging in her throat, she stared at him, speechless.

The explosion of Laguna's gun nearby startled her then, making her dash away from the boy, afraid of her own reactions to him, afraid of the situation she found herself in. Unable to handle it, she retreated to Laguna's side and hoped to god that the boy wouldn't follow her.

* * *

Gazing down his long nose, Gary's lips pulled downwards, "Pathetic," he stated, "Absolutely pathetic." 

Clutching his stomach, Demyx desperately tried to hold onto his substance – he didn't want to die again. The first time hadn't been the greatest experience he'd ever had, and this time likely wasn't going to be any better. _'Useless, downright useless!'_ he berated himself, staring straight forward, too frightened of the Prince of Darkness that stood behind him. _'I couldn't save her...'_

Gary snorted, reaching down to grab Demyx's hair, yanking his head back, "I suppose I should put you out of your misery."

"I won't stay dead," Demyx snapped back, then gasped in pain.

Breaking into a fit of demonic laughter, Gary replied, "You will if I absorb you into myself!"

Eyes widening, Demyx flailed, reaching back to grab at Gary's wrist as darkness began to radiate from the man's hand, creeping down the blonde's face. Panic made him fight, and for a moment, it felt like he truly had a heart with which to feel the fear. The Darkness crept down his body further, pulling at his essence, touching him in ways that left him feeling violated.

Smirking, Gary took his time, savoring the delicious moment. "You are the first, but I will turn on the rest of the Organization and swallow them, one by one, absorbing their powers and becoming stronger until I can destroy the other Princes, then I will destroy Maleficent and take on Kingdom Hearts for myself." He chuckled, "And then, I will use the Amplifier to cast all things into the realm of Darkness, where I will absorb them too and I will be God! Free to remake the universe in _my_ image!"

His struggles growing weaker, Demyx blinked, trying to clear the darkness creeping around the edge of his vision. The world of Betwixt and Between was fading, he tried to hold onto it. "No..." he whispered. "Kosuiko..."

Gary stared down at Demyx, watching as the shards of twilight energy sparkled upwards from the fading Nobody, disappearing as they were absorbed into his darkness. It was taking too long, he wanted to hurry the process, but Demyx was fighting him still, clinging to what little light he had with all his strength. _'Perhaps I underestimated this twirp?'_ Gary mused, then smirked. _'It hardly matters. He'll be gone in a moment and his power will be mine.'_

The scene she opened her eyes upon nearly made her jump to her feet in an effort to assist Demyx, but a combination of dizziness and the voice in her head made her remain where she was for the moment. _'Take it slow,'_ the voice cautioned, _'We'll sneak up on him.'_

_'But I can't fight!'_ Kosuiko objected.

_'I can. Leave it to me.'_

_'Who are you?'_

_'My name is Umi. Leave it to me...'_

Taking a slow and silent breath, Kosuiko felt as if she were a puppet, being moved by someone else's will. Her arms drew in, she placed her toes on the ground and slowly pushed herself up into a crouch. Her muscles ached with what seemed a full-body bruise, but she moved anyway, creeping silently towards Gary's unprotected back. Standing carefully, she shifted her weight, lifting a foot as she spun, and launched a kick at the back of the man's knees.

Gasping in shock, Gary released his hold on Demyx, the blonde falling to the ground in a heap as Gary staggered away then spun to face her. "You insolent little slut," Gary snarled, lifting Obsidian Heart.

_'Don't fight him, you can't. Grab the guy and get out of here!'_ Umi told her, and Kosuiko, taking advantage of the moment, dived down to grab Demyx and opened a dark portal beneath them. Black abyss closed over her head for a moment before the darkness ripped and opened into light beneath her. Falling from her portal, she landed hard in the grass and rolled – Demyx, on the other hand, did not move.

Tears stinging her eyes, Kosuiko crawled back over to him, clutching his coat, "Demyx! Demyx! Wake up!" she begged, "Don't play dead! Please! Don't – I'm sorry for playing dead earlier. I'm sorry! Wake up!" The hole in his stomach continued to disintegrate in little chunks of dark-tinged sparkles of light, and she tried putting her hands over it to make the sparkles stop, but they leaked through her fingers. "No – no!" she sobbed.

Lifting her head, she looked around, finding herself in a garden filled with giant topiaries of animal-people playing musical instruments. "Someone! Help me!" she begged, looking towards the colonnade that overlooked the garden, spotting a short mouse woman in a pink dress standing there. "Help me!" Kosuiko begged.

The mouse woman, paused for a second, as if debating – then pushed away from the balustrade and dashed off down the colonnade, disappearing from sight.

Breaking into sobs, Kosuiko shook her head, "Demyx, don't leave me! Don't go away!" she begged, leaning down to put her forehead against his chest.

"Here!" a female voice called and green light sparkled around Demyx, startling Kosuiko to sit up and look at the mouse-woman in pink.

When the light faded, Kosuiko looked down, finding that the hole in Demyx's stomach was gone. "He's not leaking anymore!" she gasped, then looked up at the mouse-woman, "Thank you!"

The mouse-woman folded her hands in front of her and lifted her chin, "Your welcome," she replied, but still looked worried.

"uh.."

Turning away from the mouse-woman, Kosuiko put her hands to Demyx's face as he stirred, slowly opening his eyes, "Demyx!" she breathed, smiling brightly. "You're okay! Don't play dead like that! I don't like it!"

Opening his eyes further, Demyx blinked, then looked around, eyes settling upon the mouse-woman. "Queen...Minnie?" he asked slowly, apparently recognizing their surroundings, "Wh- how...did I get here?"

Kosuiko turned a brilliant smile on him, "I ported us," she replied cheerfully, "I saved you from the Bad Man!"

"You...?" Demyx groaned, lifting a hand to put on his forehead, then paused, looking at the black glove, lips turning downwards. "No one would believe me... certainly not Xemnas." Clenching his fist, he slowly sat up, Kosuiko helping to support him, still smiling cheerfully. Looking towards Minnie, Demyx took a breath, "Your Majesty..." he said slowly.

Silence fell then as Demyx paused to consult the feelings he remembered having before he'd lost his heart.

_'In a situation like this... I would feel betrayed...'_ he decided.

_'I refuse to work with Gary, I refuse to just stand idle and let him destroy me for his sick goals. I want my heart back, and he's not going to help me do that. Xemnas would never believe me if I told him what Gary had said. So my only choice left is...'_

Shifting to his knees in front of Minnie, Demyx placed his hands on the ground, lowering his forehead. "Your Majesty," he repeated, "I – I may not be good at fighting, but I'll do what I can ...in your service, if you'll have me."

Minnie's brows raised, "Is that so?" she asked, "are you truly forsaking the Organization?"

"They're all doomed," Demyx replied without sitting up. Kosuiko stared at him in confusion, "They've taken on a monster that they can't control. Gary is going to destroy them all... he just tried to destroy me. I – I may not be whole. I may never be whole, but I'd like to hang onto what little bit of life I've got."

Taking a slow and deep breath, Minnie replied, "Then... I accept your offer," she stated. "Who is this girl, though?"

Smiling cheerfully once more at the Queen, she replied for herself as Demyx sat up, "I'm Kosuiko!" she announced.

"Why does she look like Sora?" Minnie asked.

Demyx looked down and licked his lips, "Because... she's Sora's twin sister."

Gasping and turning to thump a weak fist into Demyx's shoulder Kosuiko pouted at him, "Why didn't you just tell me that in the first place?" she demanded.

"Xemnas told me not to tell you anything!" Demyx replied, rubbing his arm where she'd hit him, "Sorry, Koko, but that's really all I know. Xemnas just brought you in one day and told me to take care of you. So I did. I figured out that you were Sora's twin only after I'd met him a few years ago. It's the only explanation I can think of..."

Closing his eyes, Demyx shook his head, beginning to pull his gloves off. Staggering to his feet, he took hold of his coat and ripped it off, flinging it aside, in fury, revealing the blue tank-top and black pants and boots he wore beneath. Looking down at himself, he fingered the large gash in the center of his shirt, "And I liked this shirt..." he sighed.

"Come," Minnie stated, "There's someone I would like you to talk to."

Climbing to her feet, Kosuiko followed Minnie without hesitation. Demyx, on the other hand, paused briefly before stepping forward.

_'...my first step as a traitor. Oh god. Xemnas is going to murder me if he ever catches me...'_ pressing his lips together firmly, Demyx shook his head. _'Better than being absorbed into Gary's darkness.'_

Turning his gaze towards Kosuiko's back, he sighed, _'At least... I can protect her. ...I just wish I had a heart so that I could figure out if I love her or if it's just a relationship of convenience, though...'_

* * *

_AN: Oh my god, I am SO VERY sorry for taking so long on this, but things have been very chaotic in my life lately, what with the sewing project, resulting drama, acquiring a boyfriend, and being completely distracted with roleplay, it just took me a while to bash out this chapter. But hey! It's got LOTS of Demyx in it! And information, and battles and cliff hangers and happy-squee-fun stuff like Koko kicking Gary. I might have her kick him in the nuts next time. Hehe _

_Next Chapter: Sora meets... Riku loses... Kaiyou frightened... Roxas irritated... and Axel says, "Got it memorized?"_


	54. Brink of Disaster

_Chapter 54_

_(Brink of Disaster)_

People had cleared the streets, leaving a desolate landscape of cobblestone streets littered with papers and dropped food items. The fight had fallen into a rather odd pause suddenly, the silence seeming to extend into forever, making Kaiyou's heartbeat sound all the louder in her ears.

It likely wouldn't be long before Steiner and his idiots showed up and Kaiyou really didn't want to meet him again. Falling into her fighting stance, which had her weight on her left leg, behind her, sword in her right in front, she licked her lips, "Let's get this done with quick," she told Laguna who stood ready beside her, his gun out and aimed.

"Axel, Roxas," Xigbar called from where he stood on a hotel balcony above them, "Come back to us."

Shaking his head, the blonde she didn't recognize stepped closer, "Never. You know he only wants us back so he can kill us."

"Aww, you don't give him enough credit," the one-eyed gunman replied with a grin, "Don't you remember all the fun you, me and Axel used to have? Picking on Demyx?"

The redhead next to the blonde snorted, "It was fun, but sorry, no dice." Kaiyou eyed the pair, deciding that the blonde was probably Roxas, the redhead was likely Axel. Odd names.

"Hey, I've got an idea," Laguna called to Xigbar, "Why don't you join us! I mean, just because you're a Nobody doesn't mean you have to work for Xemass!"

"His name's Xem_NAS_, you moron," Axel replied rounding on Laguna, "Let me spell it for you," lifting a finger he stated, "M. A. N. S. E. X. Got it memorized?"

Eyes widening, Kaiyou bit her lips together as she started sniggering, Roxas covered his face with a hand and the silver haired boy outright chuckled. Xigbar blinked, blinked again and slowly curled over, laughing so hard his face started turning red. "Alright!" he gasped, "You win this round!" Unceremoniously, he tripped backwards into a portal and disappeared.

After a moment of staring around, the group did a general stand-down. Keyblades and various other weapons were sheathed or disappeared, and Kaiyou shook her head slightly. "Today... has been insane, and it's not even noon yet," she observed, scratching the back of her neck absently.

"Hey! It's Aros! We found Aros!" the yellow fairy announced, flittering over to Kaiyou and circling her head.

Eyes widening, Kaiyou watched the fairy twirl around her briefly, then looked away when she got dizzy, finding everyone else staring at her. Unnerved by the attention, Kaiyou ducked away and skittered behind Laguna again. He, however, had other ideas and reached back, pulling her forward, grinning like the cat that got in the cream.

"Stoppit," Kaiyou whimpered at him, blushing as she accidentally met the silver-haired boy's eyes once more.

Turning to face Kaiyou, Roxas held out his hand, "The book. Give it," he sad abruptly.

Eyes widening, she tried to slide back a step, but was prevented by Laguna. Taking a breath and drawing herself up, Kaiyou shook her head, "No. I don't know you."

"But- Sora!" Kairi started to object, stepping forward.

"Aros!" Kaiyou shouted, "I'm _not_ Sora! I was confused before!"

Folding his fingers in, Roxas shook his head, "Sorry, Aros," he paused, "Gah, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound like that. It's just, the book is important."

Kaiyou frowned, folding her arms, "If it's so important, why should I trust you and just hand it over? What if you're the one who wants to use it to make the weapon?"

"What?" Laguna asked.

"I'm not stupid, I can read. It's a weapon that uses the energy from hearts," Kaiyou stated, "And considering the alignment of my enemies, and the fact that I've got no clue who you people are, I'm going to keep hold of it and probably burn it."

Stepping forward, the short mouse-man in red shook his head, "Please, Aros!" he objected.

Frowning at him, she slowly started to drop her arms as she looked the short mouse-man over. He looked a lot like Queen Minnie and the mouse-man that had been in the painting with her, "You're... King Mickey, right? But you were locked up, did... did Sora save you?"

"No- a girl did, Kosuiko," Kairi supplied. "She looks like you..."

"I saw her," Kaiyou stated blankly, keeping her opinions to herself. _'She...felt like you, Umi... Umi? You've left me again... How many copies of Sora are there? Me, this Kosuiko, Sora - does Umi count?'_

Shifting her weight, Kaiyou stared at Mickey for a long silent moment before taking a breath and slowly reached for her side-pack. "...You trust Sora a lot, don't you?" she asked slowly.

Mickey nodded, not quite sure what he'd walked into, but answered anyway, "With my life."

Unclipping the flap on her side-pack, Kaiyou murmured, "I see..." as she lifted the book from her pack and took a breath, "I... think he trusts you too. So..." Shyly, she looked towards Laguna who nodded with an encouraging smile.

"He's a good person," Laguna told her reassuringly, "You can trust him."

Chewing on her lip a little, she thought on that, then decided, "I don't know him," she stated, "But I know you." She wanted to make it clear, after all, there was a distinction. Kaiyou had chosen to trust Laguna's word, rather than Mickey's. She turned to look at Mickey once more and the group collectively held their breaths as Kaiyou stepped forward cautiously. A blush of monumental proportions slowly grew across her cheeks, her eyes flicked from one staring person to the next, as she pulled the book free from her pack and extended it towards Mickey. Reaching up, the king grasped the book, taking it from her. There were a few sighs of relief around the group and Kaiyou scowled slightly at it. _'What'd they think I was gonna do? Pull my Keyblade and bash his brains out then run off with the book?'_

Digging in his pocket briefly, Mickey came out with something of his own, "Here," he said, letting the pendant fall from his palm, hanging from its thin silver chain. "Take this in return." The pendant was a star with an eclipsing moon in the center.

"...what is it?" Kaiyou asked, unsure.

"A Keychain," the silver haired boy stated blandly, arms folded. "You stick it on your Keyblade, dumbass."

Turning bright pink, Kaiyou scowled at him then lifted her middle finger in return, "Twirl on it!"

Gasps went around the group and Axel chuckled softly, "I think I _like_ this one," he murmured. The silver haired boy just quirked his brows, silently agreeing with Axel, after all, it was a less innocent version of Sora, and that was likely to prove very interesting in the future.

Kaiyou huffed, taking the Keychain from Mickey then paused, "Um... thank you," she added to him, because he at least deserved a little respect, or something.

"Thank you... Aros," he said in return but paused as if he would have called her something else but didn't.

"No, thank _you_."

Appearing from a black portal, a tall redheaded man stepped out, and with a deft snatch, swiped the book from Mickey's grasp.

Eyes widening, Kaiyou turned to look at the man as he briefly got distracted scowling at Axel, who remained firmly beside Roxas. "You give that back!" she shouted, calling her Keyblade – and was shocked when a new blade appeared in her hand instead of the crown-ended one. This blade, she felt, was called Twilight's Edge, the hilt was clear crystal with the tails of shooting stars making a circle around the hilt, the stars themselves sprouting twin shafts of clear shot with white and black marble patterns to create the blade. Protruding off the end of the blade was a crescent moon with sunray-spikes shooting off the outside curve.

Shaking off her shock, she leapt forward, swinging the blade at the redhead as he dodged back.

Sadistically smirking, the man easily dodged her swings, leading her away from the others by running up the wall of a building nearby. Furious, she followed, easily bounding up the side of something most people would have found difficult to climb. On the flat rooftop, the man stopped and turned to face her, pulling out a short pole that crackled on the end. "While it's not in my orders to take you, I think you'll make a lovely present to President Rufus ShinRa."

"You're... a Heartless though," Kaiyou said, and how she could tell that, she didn't know, but it was definitely a gut feeling she trusted. "Aren't you working for Maleficent?"

With a roll of his eyes, the man snorted, "That old bag?" he didn't bother explaining further and just leapt forward, swinging his weapon. Startled, Kaiyou lifted her new Keyblade to block, then pushed him back with all her strength. He moved, but she didn't get the feeling that it was because of anything _she'd_ done. Leaping back again, the man dodged her swing and blindly, she stepped forward, following him across the spine of the roof as he easily avoided her strikes. Out of nowhere, he spun around, slapping her against the side of her head with his stick, and the world went black for Kaiyou.

* * *

He was drawn by some invisible thread that he simply couldn't deny...

And he hated it.

This odd feeling was foreign. Imposed upon him by someone else, someone dark, someone who knew enough about hearts to manipulate them.

The name Ansem came to mind.

Followed by Xemnas.

Riku wasn't the only one to go after Aros and the other man, he was just the first to reach the top of the roof – just in time to see Aros struck in the head with a stick that was crackling with energy. She dropped flat like a rock, obviously knocked out, and unexpectedly furious, Riku launched forward, swinging Road to Dawn with a shout.

"Stay away from her!" Riku shouted, standing over Aros as the redhead came to a stop a short distance away.

"How strange," the redhead commented, jade eyes flicking away from Riku briefly to look at the others that had finally reached the rooftop. "I'm sure Hojo would love to hear about this development. I'll be sure to tell him."

"Who are you?" Riku demanded.

"Aww, Kadaj, you hurt my feelings!"

Growling, Riku shifted his stance slightly with a shout of, "My name is _Riku!_" then launched forward, lashing out at the man with an upwards slash. The redhead dodged the first strike, but not the second or third.

Knocked off balance and wounded, Reno stumbled to the edge of the roof, "Fine, since you don't seem to remember, I'll tell you," Smirking, the redhead lifted a finger, "The name's Reno... got it memorized?" Abruptly, Reno turned away and opened a portal as Riku ran at him once more, barely dodging getting stabbed in the back by his leap into the darkness. The portal closed behind him, leaving Riku growling and panting at the edge of the roof.

Turning away, Riku looked over the rest of the group, finding the people he recognized and didn't recognize all staring at him. Except Aros. She was sitting up now, staring at the ground, jaw clenched, fists clenched in her lap. On the surface, Riku supposed she could pass as a boy, but somehow, something inside of him knew what she really was.

He found himself staring at her, and she, in turn, glanced up, eyes widening as she caught sight of his expression. Looking away, she struggled to her feet, apparently unaware of the blood leaking from the side of her head. Laguna was the one to break the silence by striding forward. "Aros," he said, "Hey, take it easy-" he continued when she shoved his hands away when he tried to steady her.

"...failure," she muttered, then snapped, "Teleport us!" and in a flash of light, Laguna and Aros were gone, leaving Riku staring at empty space, with that single first word she'd muttered echoing in his head.

_'Failure...'_ why did it hurt so much to hear her call herself that?

Riku shook his head as Kairi dashed over. "Riku, are you okay?" she asked, grabbing his hands.

"I'm alright," he replied, then shook his head again, "I didn't take any damage, why're you ... oh never mind," he sighed and took her hand, stepping around her to guide her back over to Roxas, Axel, and Mickey. Yuna was standing nearby at about five-foot-five and clasping her hands in front of her short pleated skirt, "Roxas," Riku stated, "You take Kairi and Mickey back to Disney Castle, I'll go after Aros."

Temper flaring, Roxas glowered, "And who're you to order me around?" he demanded.

"Please!" Mickey interjected, holding up his hands as he stepped between the two, "Don't fight. We can't afford to fight amongst ourselves, we have enough enemies as it is."

Taking a breath, Riku reigned in his temper and nodded, then glanced aside at the other blonde, the one with the sword nearly as large as he was strapped across his back. ...The blonde that had been staring at him for quite some time now.

Mickey, meanwhile, had turned towards Roxas, "I really need to get back to Disney Castle and it's the safest place there is right now."

"What about the book?" Axel asked.

Looking down, Mickey shook his head, "We don't know where Reno took it." Axel bit his lower lip and looked away, accidentally straight towards the strange blonde in the black half-coat. Eyes widening, he quickly looked away.

Stepping forward, the strange blonde stated, "I'll go with him," he pointed at Riku.

Irritated, the silver-haired boy snapped, "What the heck! Why not invite the whole universe? Party at Riku's!"

Kairi slapped his shoulder, "Riku! Quit it. That's Cloud, he's a good man, a good fighter. He'll be a lot of help." Subsiding into silence, Riku scowled off in another direction as Kairi turned to Cloud, "Don't mind him, he's a little abrasive sometimes, but I'm sure you two will get along."

"I'm sure," Cloud replied, though he sounded rather deadpan.

Roxas took a breath, "Fine. I have to get back to Disney and talk to Sora anyway," he stated, still scowling at Riku, "Let's go then."

"...what about Kosuiko?" Namine asked, making everyone pause, "She got taken by Gary."

Mickey shook his head, "I don't know what we can do for her. We don't know where they went."

"Demyx will look after her," Axel inserted, "He's been looking after her for years."

Turning to look at Axel, Roxas folded his arms and asked, "How would you know anything about it?"

Sighing, Axel lifted his hands in a shrug, "You know I like finding secrets, and Demyx is fairly easy to follow when he's '_sneaking_'," Axel made quotation marks around the word with his fingers.

Unable to help it, Roxas snorted, "Yeah," he agreed, "But can he take on Gary?"

"Probably not," Axel admitted, "But he wouldn't have to, really. He's good at running away at least. I'm sure they'll turn up somewhere."

"So unconcerned," Cloud muttered.

Turning to face the blonde, Axel replied, "In case you didn't notice, it requires a heart to care," lifting a hand, he gestured vaguely, "And I don't happen to have one. Let's go, Rox."

Nodding, Roxas reached out for Kairi's hand, then took Mickey's hand. "Teleport us," he called, and the four of them disappeared in a flash of light leaving Riku with Yuna, her orbiting fairies, Rikku and Paine, and Cloud.

"How do we find where Aros went?" Yuna asked, breaking the silence.

Taking a breath, Riku reigned in his temper and cleared his expression before turning to face her. "By looking at the paths between the worlds. If she went onwards to a new world, a new path would be opened. If she backtracked, she probably went to Radiant Garden." Stepping over to Cloud, the two of them locked gazes, Cloud's lips turning downwards at the corners, but not enough to quite call a frown. Riku was sure his own expression was just bordering on disgust as he lifted a hand and placed it on Cloud's shoulder. "Teleport us." He stated, and the five of them disappeared in a flash of light.

* * *

Looking around carefully, Demyx shook his head at the large and mostly empty room, taking note of the shelves with books and various strange equipment, and the desk in the center of the room with a lit candle on it. Resolutely, Demyx kept hold of Kosuiko's hand to keep her from breaking anything that Minnie might not want broken. Oddly enough, she'd led them to a tower, opened the door and told them to go to the top, and that had been it. So here they were, at the top of what had to be the tallest tower ever created by man (or mouse as the case may be), standing in a silent little office and wondering when the axe was going to drop.

Well, _Demyx_ was wondering that at least and had no idea what was going through Kosuiko's mind. She was just standing beside him, rocking from heels to toes, chewing on her fingernails as she stared blankly. He sighed softly at that. "Trust you to be exactly the same no matter what's going on," he stated softly.

Blinking, Kosuiko looked up at him and grinned, a bit of her nail clenched between her teeth. Lifting a hand, he picked it out and flicked it aside, "Don't do that," he admonished, "It's gross."

"But _your_ nails are short, Demyx," Kosuiko protested, lifting the hand that held hers and ran her thumb across his short nails.

Shaking his head, Demyx sighed, "Because I trim them with clippers so I can play my sitar," he pointed out and poked her nose lightly, "You'll make your fingers bleed if you keep biting them like that. Remember the last time?"

Deflated, Kosuiko pouted at him and dropped her hands to her sides again, still holding Demyx's hand firmly; perhaps she didn't want to be let go of just as much as he didn't want to let her wander around?

He sighed, eyes flicking around the room once more, reconfirming the fact that they were indeed quite alone.

Except he couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched.

Again, Kosuiko started swaying, humming under her breath for a moment before she started singing out loud in a soft alto that echoed in the quiet room, "Where has my love gone, where has she gone?" It was a song that Demyx had made up some years ago. He'd played it for her first, then presented it to Xigbar, been told it sucked, and never played it again.

Abruptly, Kosuiko stopped, then started singing again, "Whenever sang my songs... on this stage on my own... whenever said my words – wishing they would be heard... – Demyx," she said suddenly, "What song is that?"

Frowning as he looked at her, Demyx cocked his head to the side, and asked when she abruptly stopped singing again, "Where did you hear it?"

"I don't know. It just came to me... But now it's gone," she pouted.

Just as silence fell between them again, an explosion of smoke behind the desk nearly made Demyx jump out of his skin. Spinning around to face the possible threat, he fell into a stance he could easily turn and run from, then gasped.

"What a strange looking man," Kosuiko said innocently, having never had to learn to filter between her brain and mouth, "What big eyes you have, mister!"

Looking grim as ever, Yen Sid stepped forward and took a seat in his chair, "All the better to see you with, my dear," he intoned.

Shocked, Demyx leaned forward, blinking a few times, "But - but Gary said he killed you!"

Flicking his fingers dismissively, Yen Sid replied, "Gary is not powerful enough to defeat me. He killed a hastily made clone. You can stop pretending to be surprised now, Demyx."

Eyes briefly narrowing in irritation, Demyx straightened and dropped his hands to his sides once more. "Fine," he stated as the back of his mind pointed out that he really _was_ only acting. Lifting his shoulders, he added, "But can you blame me for trying?" he pleaded slightly, wanting at least a little validation for his attempts.

Yen Sid simply sighed.

Kosuiko giggled softly, "He's got a pointy hat," she observed the obvious. "I like it." Turning to Demyx, she asked, "Can I have one like that?"

"Ah..." Demyx paused, unsure of what exactly to tell her. "Maybe later, Koko. Please behave for a moment?"

Pouting, she nodded. "Okay, as long as I get a pointy hat later."

"Your reward will be much greater than a simple hat," Yen Sid murmured and folded his hands together on the desk in front of him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Demyx asked and immediately stepped between her and the old wizard. "If you think you're going to take her from me... uh, you're wrong."

Shaking his head with a sigh, Yen Sid replied, "No, though if I had intentions of taking her, you would not be able to defend yourself, nor her from me."

Something akin to pride made Demyx clench his hands, scowling at the old mage. With a yelp, Kosuiko ripped her hand from Demyx and rubbed it, "Owie," she whimpered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Demyx demanded, "I may not be the best at fighting, but I can take you on!"

"Calm yourself," Yen Sid ordered and with a gesture, a pair of chairs appeared in front of the desk, "Sit. This may take a while..."

Hesitating, Demyx looked around, then licked his lips, "A while... How am I able to be here at all?" he asked, finally recalling the question that had occurred to him on the way up the stairs. "The Cornerstone of Light is functioning, right?"

Yen Sid nodded, "The Cornerstone is fine. It is _you_ that has changed."

Confused, Demyx stepped closer and took the chair Yen Sid had offered him. "Me? How?"

"Someone has taken most of the darkness from your form. As a twilight being, you were unable to open a portal to this world; now, however, you are more light than dark," Yen Sid explained calmly, then fell silent, letting Demyx process this information.

Finally, the musician stated, "Gary. He was trying to absorb me. After he stabbed me with Obsidian Heart."

"If you'd had a heart, you would have most assuredly been lost to the darkness," Yen Sid replied, "As it was, there was nothing the seeds of Darkness could take root in. Only one other has survived a strike from that sword..."

Demyx lifted his head as he answered, "Sora."

Slowly, Yen Sid nodded. "Indeed. But that was with the help of the Amplifier."

Eyes widening, Demyx leaned forward in his seat, "He found it? Where?"

Holding up a forestalling hand, Yen Sid continued. "Here is a question you should perhaps think on... You were saved by someone and brought to this world where Heartless and Nobodies cannot enter for fear of disappearing like a shadow in noon-sunlight. Who was that?"

Confused and curious, Demyx slowly sat back, fingering the hole in his shirt as he thought, "Kosuiko..." he whispered softly and looked over at the chair he'd thought she'd taken a seat in. Instead, he found her across the room at the bookshelf, looking at the spines of the ancient tomes, hands clasped behind her back. Attention caught by his speaking her name, she looked over her shoulder at him and smiled, then turned back to the books.

Looking back at Yen Sid, Demyx had to ask, "But- does that mean she's mostly light as well?"

"No, she is not."

"I mean it would make sense, what with her being Sora's twin and all... wait, she's not?" Demyx leaned forward, head cocked to the side. "But she can't be dark..."

Yen Sid shook his head, "She is not."

"So she's neither?" Demyx demanded, "That's not possible!" Irritated, he slapped his knee and stood, folding his arms on his chest, "You're pulling my leg."

Sitting back in his chair calmly, Yen Sid shook his head, "You know the answer. It is in your memories. Take some time to look into your past and you will find it. Go now." He pointed towards the door to his left, "If you are to fight, you will need better clothes than that."

Demyx scowled. "Obnoxious old man," he snapped, "What if I don't want new clothes? What are you? Some kind of wardrobe?"

In a puff of smoke, Yen Sid disappeared, leaving Demyx with no one to gripe at except Kosuiko and she was busy sitting on the floor with one of Yen Sid's books, a finger running slowly across the page as her mouth sounded out the words silently. Pacing over to her, Demyx knelt, "Hey, what're you reading?"

Looking up, she smiled at him, then looked down again to read the first line out loud, "It is my du-ty to expose what this darkness really is... I shall s- k- condu-ckt the follo-wing exper-ri-ments: Ek-stract the darkness from a person's heart. S... K-cult-i-vat-ee darkness in a pure heart. Both su- sup-press and amplify the darkness within..."

Demyx stared at the book for a long silent moment before swallowing and taking the book from Kosuiko's hands. "Don't play with things that aren't yours," he admonished.

Eyes wide, she stared at him as he put the book away then pulled her to her feet, guiding her gently over to the door to Yen Sid had directed him to. Stepping through the door, he paused again, staring at the three fairies that stood facing him. "Oh my," said the blue fairy, "This won't do at all!"

The musician blinked in confusion as the three fairies turned to each other and began tittering. Yes, _tittering_. Demyx cleared his throat, "Uh, Yen Sid said something about you giving us new clothes..?"

Turning back towards him, the three fairies looked him over.

Demyx swallowed.

* * *

"Sora?"

"hhmm... five minutes Matron..."

"Sora," the hand that shook his shoulder did not go away, in fact, it redoubled it's efforts to awaken him.

Opening his eyes slightly, Sora grumbled, "...it's Saturday..."

"Sora!"

Finally, it occurred to Sora that, a: he was lying on the floor, head pillowed on a pile of books and his arm, and b: the owner of the hand and voice attempting to awaken him was none other than Squall.

Groaning softly, Sora slowly sat up, wincing at the kink in his neck and back from sleeping on the hard floor. "Here," Squall said, holding out a cup of steaming liquid. Blinking at it Sora took it and looked into the murky depths of the coffee he'd been handed. He didn't generally like coffee, but by the way his eyes wanted to fall shut again, he groggily supposed he needed it and took a mouth-searing gulp.

"Gah! Hot," he gasped setting the cup down before he spilled it.

Crouching on the floor in front of him, Squall gazed down at Sora with the faintest hint of a smile quirking the corner of his lips, elbows resting on his knees. "Wake up. I think we're going to really need you today."

Sora groaned softly, scrubbed the crumbs out of his eyes, and stretched till he gasped with pain and dropped his left arm, "Ouch... shouldn't have slept on the floor," he complained, glancing around the torn up office. They'd searched for hours the night before for some sort of disk with a backup of Tron's programming on it, but to no avail it seemed.

"Ask Aerith to help you with that, then. But make it quick," Squall replied and fluffed Sora's spikes before standing and walking off. "The town's defense systems are down, so we're likely to have trouble today. Like I said, we need you."

Lifting his eyes, Sora blinked up at the man's back, eyes focusing on the white wing designs on the back of his leather coat. "Ah- aww crap!" he gasped, "I've gotta meet Roxas today though."

Pausing, Squall looked back, "Roxas?"

"I ...did I not tell you about that? I thought I did." Sora paused and shook his head before taking up the steaming coffee again and taking another gulp. "Roxas is my Nobody, but he's currently got half of my heart so we can be separate. I sent him after Aros." Climbing to his feet, Sora stretched one leg out, then the other, holding the coffee in one hand as he rolled his aching shoulder, "Well, he knows where I'm supposed to be. He'll show up here if I don't show up over at Disney Castle on time." Nodding to himself, Sora took another sip of the coffee, cringing at the taste of the black brew, "All the better. We'll have more people to help." Turning, he cast a smile at Squall.

Completely confused, Squall blinked twice, shook his head, and continued onwards, heading towards the computer room, "Aerith is at Merlin's, by the way. Think you can make it there without a chaperone?"

Sora stuck out his tongue at the older man, "I'm a big boy," he stated, quoting Aros. Squall only gave a vaguely amused grunt and headed onwards, through the door to the computer room. Taking a breath and letting it out in a sigh, Sora finished off the coffee and looked around, finding that the room had partially been sorted, the items that might possibly be backup disks of Tron set in a pile on one side of the room, those already tested and found not to be what they wanted were piled elsewhere.

Of Goofy, Donald, and Khimari, there was no sign and Sora set the cup down on the desk in the center of the room. _'Yeah, seeing Aerith about these muscle cramps would be good. Before hell breaks loose.'_

Stepping towards the door, he swallowed hard as his heart clenched with painful guilt.

_'Failure! I lost it! He got away! I should just kill myself!'_

Clutching the edge of the desk, Sora swallowed, hand gripping his necklace, "Kaiyou," he gasped, "No- don't say that!" Clenching his eyes shut, he shook his head.

_'But I lost it!'_

"It's okay! It's just a thing, you can get it back! It's not worth killing yourself over!" Sora objected, unaware that he'd raised his voice or that Squall had come jogging back into the room and was now standing in the doorway, staring.

_'But- they'll make that weapon and it'll be my fault!'_ she shot back.

Shaking his head, Sora replied, "No, Kaiyou, not everything is your fault!" Grinding his teeth, he shoved past her guilt and shouted, "You're always blaming yourself for everything that goes wrong, but you need to stop it!" She abruptly fell silent in his mind, her pain easing, "Kaiyou..." Sora said softly, "You're a good person, a wonderful sister, I love you, but it hurts me when you tear yourself up like this."

_'...sora...'_

Then the feeling of her presence faded and Sora sank to his knees, suddenly feeling very weak.

"Sora," Squall said, striding over to take hold of Sora's shoulders. Looking into the younger man's sky-blue eyes, Squall paused as if he wanted to say something.

Shaking his head, Sora wiped a hand across his forehead, "I'm not crazy," he said softly, trying to explain, "Kaiyou... is my sister," darkness converged upon him then, preventing him from speaking further as he collapsed against Squall's shoulder.

* * *

Sniffling and wiping her nose on her arm-sock without losing hold of her pendant, Kaiyou clutched Laguna's robes with her other hand feeling suddenly very drained, but... better oddly...

_'I love you, but it hurts me when you tear yourself up like this...'_

"Shh," Laguna whispered, petting her hair, "It's alright. It wasn't your fault, Kaiyou. You did your best."

Biting her lower lip, she put her face against his shoulder again, "But... that boy had to... had to save me." _'Why do I care so much about his opinion though?'_ she had to ask herself as the feeling of being connected to the voice she'd named Sora faded as her distress eased away. She didn't feel much better about her failure, but she didn't feel quite so hysterical anymore, which was an improvement, because now that she thought on it, she had a splitting headache and a gash across her temple that needed fixing somehow.

Petting her hair, Laguna kissed her head gently and really didn't have a good answer for that at all. All he do was hold her.

She, however, had different ideas. Pushing off him, Kaiyou got to her feet. "I need a shower," she told him, wiping at her face with her fingers, coming away with clotting blood. Pausing, she looked down, "...Dad...what's the point of going on?" she asked softly. "I've got no reason to be going anywhere. Should I just... sit and wait till Sora shows up again?"

Slowly climbing to his feet, Laguna shook his head, placing his hands on her shoulders, "Kaiyou," he said gently, "I'll follow you wherever you want to go."

"Why?" she demanded, eyes wide as she stared up at him.

"Because... I know what you're looking for."

Frowning, she stared at him.

Laguna smiled slightly, "You're looking for Home."

"And you know where that is?" Kaiyou demanded.

Cocking his head to the side, the man agreed softly, "Yes. But it's not something I can just tell you. It's a place you have to find for yourself. I can tell you that you're close, though. All you have to do is open your eyes."

_'He sounds just like Umi...'_ A shiver went through her spine as she stared up at Laguna.

She closed her eyes as he cupped her face gently. "Just know," he said softly, "that I love you."

Breath catching, Kaiyou opened her eyes again and stared at him. "I... love you too," she said softly.

Brushing her hair back from her face, Laguna released her, "Go get cleaned up, take your time."

Nodding, she turned, heading for the door at the back of the bride.

Laguna sighed softly as the door closed behind her and looked down at himself, looking at the blood and tears on his shoulder. Shrugging, he divested himself of his robe, tossing it over the back of one of the chairs as he took a seat.

* * *

"Ish he okay?"

"Gawrsh, Leon, what happened?"

"He's... pushed himself too hard lately."

Opening his eyes reluctantly, Sora looked up into the faces of Donald, Goofy and Squall. He was lying on the floor of the office again, this time with Leon's thigh as his pillow.

"I'm okay..." he said softly, surprised to find the older brunet's expression rather knowing. Goofy and Donald looked worried. Carefully pushing himself up, Sora put a hand behind his head to feel the slightly tender spot there and winced, "Kaiyou called me," he explained, "I usually can't hear her when Roxas has half my heart... but... it felt like Roxas was there with us. I'm alright now."

Struggling to his feet, he ran a hand through his hair and smiled, although it felt plastic. Squall had more sincerity in his blank expression, though there was something in his eyes that made Sora think that he wanted to say something but present company was making him keep that information to himself.

Goofy shook his head, holding out a hand to steady the slightly taller boy, "Careful, Sora... Gawrsh, are ya shure you're okay? Ya still look a little pale there. Maybe you should lie down?"

Leaning back against the desk behind him, Sora took a breath and shook his head, "I'm alright, really, I just... need to eat something." Stretching, he winced as something popped. "I think I need to see Aerith about my shoulder before anything happens." Dropping his hands to his sides, Sora sighed, "I'm getting too old to sleep on the floor anymore. Warm sand makes a better bed." This time, he managed to summon a real smile, which made Donald and Goofy relax, he rather preferred his friends laughing to them being concerned over him.

"Leon!"

Heads snapping around, they stared as Yuffie came jogging into the room. "Leon! It's Sephiroth! He's with those two clones, attacking the town!"

"No time for breakfast now," Squall stated and stood, dusting his pants off. Turning to look at Donald and Goofy, he gestured, "You two, go ahead with Yuffie. Sora and I will catch up."

Nodding without objection, the two ran from the room, heading past Yuffie. The ninja shook her head, "About time you told him," she grumped and turned, running after.

"Told me what?" Sora asked, lifting his eyes to stare up at Squall, noticing once more that they were nearly of a height.

"About GF's."

Blinking, Sora drew back slightly, "Huh?"

Taking a stand in front of Sora, Squall folded his arms, "Guardian Forces. They're like summons." Lifting a hand, he placed it on Sora's forehead, "I'm transferring Ifrit to you," he closed his eyes and for a moment, Sora felt as if Squall's hand were on fire, then the fire sank into him. "Remember to summon him often, for the more he likes you the more form he will have in this world and the more damage he'll be able to do. Come on," lowering his hand and turning away, Squall headed for the door.

Confused and knowing that Squall had something _else_ that he was supposed to say, Sora could only follow. "Hey, Squall," he said, realizing that the man hadn't complained about Sora's use of his real name, "...Do you have siblings?"

Squall grunted.

Ahead, the hall burst with bubbles of darkness, Heartless swarming out of the hell-holes they'd created in reality.

Calling his Keyblade, Sora leapt into battle, Squall directly beside him. Slashing downwards with his Ultimate Keyblade, Sora destroyed one Shadow, then moved onto the next behind it, forging his way towards the middle of the pack. "Sora!" Squall called and leapt over a pair of shadows to slash at a Heartless that had jumped at the younger man's back just as Sora paused. Ahead loomed a strange Heartless that looked... mutated somehow, twisted out of all recognizable shape into something that almost looked like it had been made of wax. The other Heartless were avoiding getting near it.

Landing, Squall pivoted, standing back to back with Sora. "Hyne," he cursed softly, "What is that thing?"

Looking back, Sora frowned, realizing that there was another creature of similar proportions standing behind them. "Yin and Yang," Sora stated, "The one ahead is white with a black head."

Squall shook his head.

"So... you like my pet scientist's work?"

Startled, but not daring to take long to look for the source of the voice, the two looked to the left as a dark portal opened.

White coat fluttering around his ankles as he stepped out, the man lifted a hand to push his blonde locks from his face in a practiced gesture, "I admit, Hojo's creations aren't always pretty, but he does good work." Lowering his hand to his chest, which was clothed in a white Armani suit jacket, the man smiled slightly, "Forgive me. I've not introduced myself... I... am President Rufus ShiRa... soon to be ruler of the universe."

Behind the man, another stepped out, this one wearing the tattered remains of a dark blue suit, the coat with the bottom and sleeves ripped off now resembling a vest. In his left hand, he carried a green book.

Sora gasped, "Axel?"

The redhead snorted, "As if. The name's Reno."

Rufus smirked, slowly lifting a hand, "Kill the tall one," he ordered, crisp blue eyes looking from one Heartless monster to the other, "Capture the shorter one." Turning, he started off down the hall, heading the way Sora and Squall had just come, Shadows skittering out of his way like leaves, "Come Reno. We've business to attend to."

"No!" Sora shouted and rushed after the man. That, however, seemed to be the signal that Yin and Yang needed and a black arm swung out to slam into Sora's back, knocking him flat.

Rushing over, Squall slashed at Yin's arm, making the Heartless monster withdraw slightly, long enough for Sora to get to his feet and call his Keyblade to his hand. Regaining his balance, back screaming in pain of pulled muscles, Sora shifted his weight to his toes. "Thanks," he said over his shoulder as Yin and Yang, as he'd started thinking of them as, circled with their multitude of attending Shadows scurrying between their massive stumpy feet. The things were bipedal, about eight feet tall and hunched over in the hallway, arms nearly as long as their legs, and possessing a head in the center of their chests rather than atop their shoulders. Those heads had the hint of humanoid features but they looked to have been made of wax and melted by being too close to a fire.

This time, Yang waded forward through the flock of Shadows, towards the pair. Lifting its handless arm, it drew back and launched a punch at Squall that the man didn't bother blocking. Both the men ducked aside and rolled away at the same moment, but unfortunately went in opposite directions. Getting his feet under him, Sora released his Keyblade with his left hand and focused his attention on the bracer on his arm, calling forth the blade just in time to spin and slash a Shadow that had thought to sneak up on him.

Swinging Ultimate around, Sora caught another Shadow in the stomach and threw it aside where it disappeared, then turned to face Yin as the black monster came lumbering towards him. Ducking under the clumsy attempt to grab him, Sora leapt up to slash at Yin's white face. Startled, the creature shrieked and jerked, slamming its shoulders into the ceiling which caused dust and bits of the ceiling to clatter to the floor.

Squall dived aside from Yang's second punch and finally came back in to slash at a heavy arm. Drawing the arm back and away, Yang clumsily hit the wall, making it crumble inwards and the sound of beams groaning under the shifting weight echoed through the halls. "If they keep that up, they're gonna bury us!" Squall called to Sora.

Having enough difficulties of his own at the moment, Sora kicked a Shadow in the face, then leapt up to slash at Yin again, driving it back a step. "They're not that tough!" he called back to Squall, "Kinda disappointing –" upon landing, he stumbled as the world turned black. "Squall!" he shouted.

"Sora – you've been blinded! Behind you!"

Staggering forward as something heavy hit his back, Sora spun around to counter attack, slicing... something. His next two attacks whiffed through the air with little effect and he stumbled to a stop as he heard Squall grunt and something smash against the wall. "Squall?"

There was no answer before something with the solidarity of a wall of rock hit him in the back of the head, sending him to the floor. Rolling to his feet again, but dizzy now, Sora slashed several times, and still hit nothing. "_Squall!_ Answer me!"

Shaking his head, Sora staggered aside as he felt the claws of a Shadow slash at his right leg. Straining his eyes, he tried to see through the blinding spell that had clouded the world in darkness, but still, he could see nothing. His hearing, however... he heard the sound of Yin and Yang shuffling, the Shadows skittering across the floor.

"SQUALL!" he shouted at the top of his lungs as he began lashing out in all directions, kicking and slashing. His blades actually connected with things, the clangs and scrapes telling him he'd hit walls or floor, the soft shrill shrieks telling him he'd hit Shadows. Yin and Yang had closed in on him and were trying to get close, but their punches only occasionally weren't met with his blades and Sora always rolled to his feet again afterwards.

* * *

Roxas looked around the library, frowning slightly as he found it empty. The annoying rodents had told him that Minnie would be waiting for him in the library. He stood in silence with Axel behind his right shoulder and Kairi on his left.

Sighing, Mickey looked around, "Boy, it's good to be home," he commented and turned towards his desk, "Wonder if the brooms put my paperwork back in order..."

"Mickey!" Minnie shouted from the door and rushed into the room, throwing herself into his arms.

Irritated that he wasn't likely to get any information out of Minnie while she was distracted, Roxas folded his arms and turned away, inadvertently facing Kairi. She smiled and stepped up beside Roxas, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We'll be out of here shortly," she told him.

"We?" he asked, "You're staying here," Roxas insisted.

Frowning, she shook her head, "I'm tired of waiting around," Kairi insisted."

Shaking his head, Roxas sighed, "Kairi – Sora would never forgive me if I let something happen to you. This is the safest place –"

Eyes narrowing Kairi frowned at him, hands going to her hips as she loomed at him, despite being shorter than he, "You're making excuse and you know I can handle a Keyblade –"

Axel, who'd been trying to ignore everyone, rolled his eyes.

"But these guys – especially Gary aren't out just to take your heart or anything. He'll probably kill you. It doesn't look like he _needs_ you for whatever he's planning."

"He's planning to become a god," a new and unexpected voice interrupted.

Silence fell and the two turned towards the door, watching as the man strode in, the fur on the collar of his short sleeveless leather jacket fluttering in the breeze as he walked. Beneath the coat was a brief dark blue tank top that left his pale midriff uncovered, his legs were clad in knee-high dark brown leather boots, his pants clinging and black. Coming to a stop in the doorway, Demyx lifted a hand and flipped his bangs out of his eyes in a classy stile with a grin, "Hey there," he winked saucily at Kairi.

Pattering up behind him, Kosuiko giggled, "Quit flirting with Namine," she accused and dashed over to Kairi, throwing her arms around the redhead girl. "I beat up Gary!" she said cheerfully, "and saved Demyx!"

Demyx winced, shoulders sagging, but he didn't deny it.

Clinging to Kosuiko briefly, Kairi asked, "I'm so glad you're alright!"

"But what's this about Gary wanting to become a god?" Roxas interrupted.

Straightening, Demyx shook his head, then lifted a gloved hand in a palm up gesture, other hand on his hip as he explained, "Well, when he was draining the life from me he told me the entirety of his rather simple and diabolical plot. First, he's going to absorb the members of Organization Thirteen," he ticked down a finger on his raised hand, "then take out Maleficent," another finger ticked town, "and for dessert, he's going to absorb the power of Kingdom Hearts to destroy everything and remake it as a realm of darkness, which he would rule over."

Mickey, having finally released Minnie gasped, "But – he couldn't possibly have the ability to control that much power."

"He could if he had the Amplifier," Demyx replied, dropping his hands and becoming quite serious. "But currently, it's in pieces and not really much use to him in that form."

Silence fell then and Roxas shifted uncomfortably, looking from Kairi and Kosuiko to Minnie and Mickey, and finally at Demyx. Axel was standing behind him still, silent with his arms crossed on his chest in a way that meant that he wasn't going to say anything unless it was something snide. Frowning, he licked his lips and spoke up, "Yen Sid said something about the Amplifier to me and Sora," he admitted, "Sora has a piece of it on his forearm... How he got it, he wasn't very clear to me about."

Demyx quirked a brow, "A- piece of it? Hm." He rubbed his chin lightly.

"What _I'd_ like to know," Axel stated, "is what you're doing here?"

Jerking out of his thoughts, Demyx put on a surprised expression and spread his hands, "Hey, Axel, I'm like you – I've quit being Xemnas's whipping boy! I'm tired of being ordered around like a dog in that pompous tone he always uses, like he owns me. It's his fault we're like this anyway! I don't owe him anything." With a firm nod, Demyx folded his arms and lifted his chin.

Lips pressed together in a hard line, Axel narrowed his eyes... and doubled over laughing. "By the Planet, Demyx! I never thought I'd see the day you grew a backbone!" he slapped his thigh, cackling.

Sighing and rolling his eyes, Roxas reached over to shove Axel, "Shuddup," he grumped, then turned towards Demyx, opening his mouth to ask another question, but his thoughts were derailed by Kosuiko.

"Where is Sora?" she asked, stepping away from Kairi, her ocean-blue eyes wide as she stared at Roxas, then Kairi, then Roxas again, "He's supposed to be here? Where's the boy with silver hair? He's with you too, right?"

Closing his mouth, Roxas looked towards Minnie and asked, "Wait – Sora hasn't shown up here yet?"

Shaking her head, she clasped her white-gloved hands together, "No..." she admitted.

"And it's nearly evening as it is," Roxas replied, "He should be here... Unless something happened to him on Radiant Garden." Turning towards Kairi, Roxas addressed her, "You stay here with King Mickey, Axel and I are going to go to Radiant Garden and see if Sora is alright. If he shows up here, tell him everything we know and tell him where we went, okay?"

Pressing her lips together, Kairi stomped her foot, "That's not fair!" she accused, but stopped as he lifted his hands, cupping her face.

Leaning in on sudden impulse, he pressed his lips to hers and blushing crimson, released her to turn and grab Axel. "Teleport us!" he shouted, disappearing in a flash of light with the still-giggling redhead.

* * *

_AN: Mansex, got it memorized? Lol. I couldn't resist putting that in there somewhere! Oh, and belatedly mentioned: webpage update! Happy-scene-pic of Dagger and Kaiyou's dance, Laguna's ff9 outfit, and tarot card readings for Kaiyou and Laguna have all been added.  
I also figured out why Kairi spends most of her time captured or elsewhere in the games. Her presence hinders the throwing of proper Angst Parties.  
Anyway, once again, sorry for the delay in posting chapters. I'll get back on schedule once the fall semester really starts up. I've got big gaps in my school-schedule that I'll put to good use, and one of my classes is like so easy and stupid it's not funny. Seriously, first day, the teacher was telling us about how to post on a bulletin board and what a 'thread' was. I'm thinking I'll have plenty of time to write in there. Currently, however, I'm ill and stressed with too many projects going at once and... very sorry, but school comes first even though I love writing this fic. I promise though, I WILL NOT ABANDON IT!_

_Next Chapter: Sora's battle with the forces of Yin and Yang, Rufus, Reno, Sephiroth, and the Sephroids. Riku's battle with himself, Kaiyou, Cloud, and Gary._


	55. Blind Leading the Blind

_Chapter 55_

_(Blind Leading the Blind)_

Darkness.

It flooded him, choked him, crushed him.

And from that darkness, _things_ attacked him.

Sora stumbled as he was struck in the back by sharp claws.

He couldn't see and the world seemed to be spinning around him. Desperately flailing his Keyblade wasn't doing anything constructive. He hit himself with it about as often as he hit anything else.

"Squall," he called desperately, lost and worried that he'd wandered off down the hall, carrying the battle away from his possibly fallen companion.

Then again, that was probably for the better, if Squall was down and couldn't fight.

This was bad. Very bad.

And with no one to turn to, Sora just continued swinging his Ultimate Keyblade as well as the blade on his left arm.

* * *

Hours had passed since Axel had convinced Roxas to just stick around and see if Sora was just running a little late. Roxas, however, wasn't quite convinced that Sora was just fine. Sora needed to know what was going on, after all, things had gotten... complicated again. 

Starting from the beginning, Aros, who was supposedly some sort of clone of Sora, was actually female, she'd tried to give the book back to Mickey when Reno had stolen the book. Meanwhile, Aros had run off again without Roxas's being able to talk to her. Gary, Aros's arch enemy, was apparently out to betray the whole Organization by absorbing their darkness and eventually attain the Amplifier so that he could absorb Kingdom Hearts to destroy the Universe and recreate it with himself as god. Unfortunately, there were apparently six other Princes of Darkness, which meant that they probably had their own agendas, completely separate from Gary's or Xemnas's or Maleficent's.

It was a bloody mess, in short, and Roxas was anxious to get in contact with Sora again.

Axel...

Was sleeping in the co-pilot's seat.

Making a decision, Roxas sat in the pilot's seat and took hold of the controls. "I'm going now. Something's not right."

* * *

"God..." Kaiyou breathed, "that was rough!" 

Laguna, who looked slightly sick, nodded and swallowed hard, "I guess it's because we didn't lock Alexandria's heart to the darkness or open the path to light," the president of Esthar replied. They'd just gone through a field of floating islands in green space with Heartless attacking on all sides - a path she'd not been given the option to lock open once they'd gotten through. The alarms were still squawking as they drifted to a stop beyond. Ahead, there were two doors; one heading slightly to the left, the other to the right.

Looking over, Kaiyou nodded slightly, then looked down. "...maybe... we should have stayed longer..." she said softly.

"No, don't second guess yourself like that," Laguna stated, "We should try to get that book back as soon as possible."

Eyes turning towards her screens, Kaiyou frowned slightly, "The path behind us is opening again," she announced as another ship shot through, "God... will they stop following me?" she stomped her foot.

Shrugging a little, Laguna, apparently recovering from his illness, reached over and patted her arm, "Kaiyou, maybe they'll be of some help? Who knows what we'll be facing when we find that guy that took the book?"

Opening her mouth, then closing it, Kaiyou looked down again, lifting her hand to clasp her crystal necklace, realizing that it was out in plain sight more often than not these days. Not that anyone seemed to care, but she did need to keep Gary from seeing it. He'd take it, without question...

She shook her head, pushing thoughts of Gary aside - just as pain shot through her heart.

_'Help me!'_

Sitting bolt straight in her chair, Kaiyou gasped, "Sora?"

Blindly grabbing the controls with one hand, she hit the acceleration to full, then spun them around to the right. Yelping in surprise, Laguna was slammed back into his seat, then nearly slung out of it, but by sheer willpower and cracking fingernails, he managed to keep his seat. Kaiyou, oblivious of the man's terror, clutched her necklace as she steered one-handed through the path of light to their right.

Where her only previous experiences with these paths had been ones that were closed, it was slightly surprising to find one that was opened. While there was the flash of light going through the door, and while there as a door on the other side, there was nothing but white in between and Kaiyou was glad that she didn't have to fight the stupid Space Heartless this time. After all, she was in a hurry.

"Sora - hang on!" she wheezed against the forces pushing her back in her chair, nearly to the point of making it difficult to breathe. She figured they were probably breaking Mach speeds at this point.

Breaking out into realspace on the other side, Kaiyou dumped speed as they neared another world, one with a large, strangely shaped castle on it. Again, Laguna clutched his chair as her driving sent things in the other rooms of the ship sliding towards the front. Bracing his feet on the console in front of him, he managed to not hit the front window face-first. Bringing the ship to a stop, Kaiyou set it on auto pilot and leapt from her seat, dashing over to the teleport pad. Laguna wasn't quick enough in recovering to join her as she shouted, "Teleport!" and disappeared.

* * *

Opening her eyes, Kaiyou looked around briefly - just long enough to assess the situation she'd just teleported into. She was at the top of a set of stairs leading down into a market square. Chaos was below, heartless attacking the innocent and a woman in black shorts with a half-skirt who was kicking Neo-Shadows and tinmen into puffs of black smoke. 

Drawing her Keyblade, Twilight Edge, Kaiyou dashed down the stairs. Although she didn't want to get tangled in this fight, she needed to get past this group of Heartless. Leaping into the fray, she sliced the first Heartless to get near her in half, then followed up with a kick in the face of another that came bounding towards her. Sending it flying, she spun around, hacked at another tinman, sending him on to join Kingdom Hearts. Fighting her way past the fist-fighting woman, Kaiyou broke to the other side of the square with a body count of at least eight out of the total fifteen that had been in the square, and figuring the woman could take care of the rest, continued on her way. Grabbing her necklace again, she oriented herself, deciding that her destination was the castle, and started running again.

Again, she was attacked in the streets, and furious, she sprang at the four Neo-Shadows that had dropped from darkness bubbles in front of her. Swinging first at the one on the left, then spun and caught the one on the right in a stab, Kaiyou cleared her path to continue running, leaving the remaining two standing there in confusion.

Tudor houses went past in an undistinguishable blur as Kaiyou ran. _'Hurry - hurry!'_ she chanted in her mind, not having the breath to speak it. _'Sora's in trouble!'_

Rounding a corner, she found another street with unarmed people being attacked by Heartless. This group didn't have anyone who could fight with them, and so after quickly making a headcount - six tinmen, seven innocents - Kaiyou ploughed into the first tinman to get in her way, slamming her Keyblade straight through it. Her attack saved a young woman who was sprawled on the ground in terror. Without waiting for her to get up, Kaiyou moved on, with a furious shout, leaping up to slam her Keyblade down on the head of another tinman, knocking it flat. Swinging her blade around again, she caught it as it stood and decapitated it savagely.

Now that she had their attention, the remaining four Heartless turned on her and came running in as a concentrated force. Rushing forward, Kaiyou didn't wait for them to make any sort of strategy and instead slammed bodily into one of the tinmen, knocking it aside as she turned and swung her Keyblade to the right, catching another on the back, jabbing the sharp points of the sun-moon on the end of her blade into it. Yanking her sword free, she left that Heartless to die in a puff of smoke as she swung her blade downwards to finish off the one she'd knocked down.

The other two Heartless leapt for her back, knocking her forward before she could kill the third and rolling, she got out from beneath them, getting a foot up to kick the one that still clung to her away. Swinging her legs around, she got her feet under her and threw her weight forward to slice the third Heartless, killing it finally. The other two stupidly came in for another rush and Kaiyou rolled to the side, letting them both go straight past her. Again on her feet, she ran at them, kicking one in the back of the head, then drew her foot back again and slammed it into the face of the second as it turned to face her. Now with them both down, Kaiyou stabbed first one, then the other, finishing them off before turning to check and see if no more had popped up behind her. None had, and the people she'd saved were staring at her with mouths opened.

Deciding she didn't want to listen to whatever they had to say, she turned and ran onwards. _'I have to save Sora!'_ she reminded herself, the feeling of his terror hammering in her heart still.

Reaching the outer wall of the city, she ran up the stairs and out into the Bailey, then ignored the stares down, choosing to leap over the low wall and to the ground below. Ahead was a steep hill leading up to the castle, and Kaiyou, feet pounding in time with her heart, ran as hard and fast as she could to the top of the hill.

More Heartless popped out of the Darkness in front of her as she reached the top where a balcony-platform thing was built off the side of the castle made mostly of metal towers. Here, though, she was surprised to find Donald and Goofy, fighting a group of Heartless. Unfortunately, it appeared that they were being driven back, slowly but surely. They were facing off against nearly thirty Neo-Shadows and more were popping in as she watched.

Growling in frustration at this further delay, Kaiyou pounded in and leapt, landing on a Heartless and using it like a skateboard to slide across the balcony, spinning her Keyblade in swift arcs that left puffs of black smoke in her wake.

"AROSH!" Donald gasped as she finally leapt up, flipping off the Heartless she'd abused as it died in a puff of smoke beneath her.

Landing, she shouted back, "Don't gawk! Retreat! Sora's in trouble!" Still swinging her blade, Kaiyou's focus was fully on the door ahead of her and the Heartless between her and that destination. In her heart, she could feel Sora getting weaker by the moment.

_'I have to help him!'_

Finally, it seemed Donald and Goofy were going to follow her lead and caught up with her, Donald casting spells to hit Heartless right next to her, sending blasts of backlash in area attacks he normally couldn't do. Goofy just protected Donald by bashing his shield into the Neo-Shadows that tried to attack the duck.

And then, they were through the door.

Leading the way through the halls, Kaiyou kept her blade out and ready, even if there weren't any monsters currently in her way.

"Arosh!" Donald complained, "Shlow down!"

"_You_ hurry!" Kaiyou snapped back as she came around a corner and nearly slammed into a creature that was nearly eight feet tall, looked like it was made of wax and white. Skidding to a halt, she ducked around it, figuring it to probably be a Heartless, and slashed at its unprotected side as it lifted its massive hands in surprise.

Donald and Goofy came around the corner, and skidded to a halt, hesitating where Kaiyou had already dived into the battle, rolling away from the heavy smash of the white creature's fists. Lying against the wall, face down was a man in a short leather coat with feathers on the collar. Across the hall from him was a gunblade.

"Leon!" Goofy gasped, identifying the man lying on the floor, and Kaiyou again sliced at the big wax creature, only to watch the cuts she made heal before she was even out of it's way.

"Donald! Use spells!" she shouted at the duck, "My blade's not doing anything to it!"

"Thunder!" Donald shouted and struck the creature directly.

Writhing in agony, the giant white monster roared. Donald, encouraged by his success, shouted out another spell, hitting the creature dead on again while Kaiyou dodged around it as a distraction. Goofy, meanwhile, headed over to Leon as soon as the creature was away from their downed man.

"Sora!" Kaiyou shouted, "Where are you?" looking around desperately, she couldn't locate him in the immediate vicinity of the partially collapsed hallway - which probably meant he was further on. That only made her worry more, for if this creature was here, then Sora might be possibly fighting something worse.

An explosion from a gun caught Kaiyou's attention, and looking back over Donald's shoulder, she spotted Laguna with his shotgun. "Get down!" he shouted at her, and trusting him, she dived to the ground, just as a meaty hand went over her head.

"Laguna!" Donald gasped, looking back at the mage-president as he took aim with his gun again and in another explosive shot, sent a scatter of ice-bullets at the monster. It staggered back, shocked by the onslaught, and dropping to a knee, it struggled to remain upright as Donald joined forces with Laguna in blasting the creature.

Finally collapsing forward and slowly dissipating into a red bloody mist, the monster was defeated, and Kaiyou looked around, "Dad - Sora's not here - he's in trouble still!" Turning, she started running again, heading onwards down the hall.

Even though she knew she was getting closer, Kaiyou's sense of Sora was fading, _'Is he dying?'_

Umi didn't have an answer, but that was fine, for turning another corner, Kaiyou skidded to a halt as Sora went flying towards her. Eyes widening, she didn't have time to do more than blink as his limp form slammed into her and sent her to the floor with more bruises than she cared to think about. Laguna came charging up behind her with Donald, Goofy, that woman Kaiyou had seen in the market square, and Leon behind - the fist-fighter woman was helping Leon stagger along.

Again, with little time to think, Kaiyou yelped as fire exploded around her, reflecting off her clothes and towards her allies. Curling around Sora, she tried to keep him close enough to be within her shield, but even so, the already bloodied and beaten young man got a few more black patches on his flesh. Fury at the monster lending her strength, Kaiyou got her arms under him and her feet under her and started dragging him back around the corner, behind the lines of her allies.

"Sora - dear god, please don't die!" Kaiyou gasped, tears in her eyes as she hunted through her packs for something to heal him with. Finding nothing, she reached for his side-packs and started digging through them, dumping their contents across the floor in her haste - amongst which was a familiar green book. Finally locating a few healing potions, she broke them over him, deciding to err more on the side of overkill with them rather than not heal him enough and used three. As the green light faded, Sora remained lying on the floor, his flesh whole once more and his eyes flicked, breathing steadied.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she scrubbed them with the palms of her hands, then dropped them to her lap as explosions went off around the corner and Laguna shouted in pain. Coming back to the situation at hand, Kaiyou started stuffing the things back into Sora's side-packs, but paused at the book. Flipping it open, she blinked, "My ...diary?" she stared at Sora, pressed her lips together, then closed the book, sticking it back into his pack.

It made sense now, his presence in her memories, his calling her Aros, calling her his little brother. It was the Sora from _now_ speaking to her memory-self. He couldn't change the past, but he'd been there with every piece of her heart she'd sealed away. "No wonder," she murmured and got to her feet, looking back towards the corner where Leon stood with his gunblade, partially turned to watch both her and the fight. His blue eyes held a knowing look.

Kaiyou eyed him, wary of the strange man, and as she stood, she told him, "Watch Sora," and with that, she called her Keyblade and headed past him.

"Watch yourself," he said in return, expression softening slightly.

Unnerved by his concern, Kaiyou turned away and dashed into the battle.

The room seemed crowded, what with one wax-man - this one black with a white face - who was continuously casting spells and summoning Neo-Shadows into the room, two mages, a fist-fighter, and a shield-man. And while, in most circumstances, Kaiyou would have thought her allies would win, hands down, this was not the case. Laguna was holding fire. Donald was holding fire. The fist-fighter was punching and kicking around almost at random. Goofy was flailing.

"What the carp?" Kaiyou wheezed as Laguna was dragged down by a heartless.

"They're blinded," Leon explained. "See if you can get in there and get them out. We'll have to find another way to defeat that thing."

"It's only casting spells," Kaiyou replied. "It can't hurt me... much. I'll get them out." Nodding to herself, Kaiyou leapt into the battle, swinging her Keyblade around to slap a Neo-Shadow out of her way as it leapt for her. It dissipated into black smoke behind her as she headed first for Laguna - since out of the group, she cared about him the most. "Dad!" she called as she reached him, kicking a Shadow off his chest. Grabbing his arm, she hauled him to his feet and pulled firmly, dragging him back over to Leon who took over clearing a path for the mage. His movements were slow, though, and it was obvious to Kaiyou that the man was still hurt, which was probably why he'd not just jumped back into the fray along with everyone else.

Once Laguna was off to safety, Kaiyou started heading for Donald, figuring she could snag him by the tail easier than catching Goofy.

The black wax-man, apparently realizing that it had a new threat, turned towards her, lifting its giant fists and the subsequent explosion of fire around Kaiyou leveled the Heartless near her - clearing enough space for her to catch the back of Donald's shirt. Hauling him bodily towards Leon, she dropped him in the brunet man's cleared area, then turned, heading for Goofy this time. Her progress, however, was impeded by a swarm of Heartless that leapt atop her, knocking her to the ground.

Furious, the monster lifted its arms again, this time casting lightning. While the hit stung her, the Heartless that had her pinned were killed outright, proving how strong these spells really were. Struggling to her feet again, Kaiyou leapt for Goofy as she shouted his name. He apparently didn't hear her and she was forced to trip him up to get his attention. "Goofy! Come with me!" she shouted in his face. He stared at everything but her.

"Gawrsh! I can't see!" he exclaimed.

"I can, come on!" she pulled him up, then ducked down again as a Heartless leapt at her head, attempting to latch on. Drawing her Keyblade back, she sliced the Heartless, then pulled Goofy to his feet, dragging him through the room by the wrist.

The monster, apparently not finished trying out every element of spell on her, lifted its arms, and Kaiyou looked back just in time to see it cast. Shoving Goofy towards Leon, despite there being quite a bit more distance between the two males, Kaiyou leapt back towards another crowd of Heartless.

The ice that formed around her exploded outward in deadly shards, killing more Heartless. Chilled, Kaiyou shivered, her movements slowed slightly, but the adrenaline pumping through her blood kept her going, heading for the last woman still in the room.

The woman had actually been managing to hold her own, despite being blinded, unfortunately, she'd also gotten fairly close to the black monster, which made Kaiyou a little more cautious in getting close. "Lady!" Kaiyou shouted at her, "This way - retreat!"

"I'm gonna kill it!" the dark haired woman shouted back.

"You're gonna get killed!" Kaiyou snapped in return, just as the black monster lifted its hands again, throwing another spell at Kaiyou.

While she felt the spell reflect, Kaiyou didn't see the effect - which was a relief, considering that she had probably just succeeded in not getting blinded as well... which meant that she was the only one capable of killing this creature out of the lot of them...

_'Oh hell...'_

Reaching the woman's side, Kaiyou slashed at the Heartless that were swarming the both of them, and had to dodge the dark haired woman's powerful kick in her direction, "Watch it!"

"I can't see," the woman replied.

"Well, I can, and I'm the only one who can, so get out of here!" Kaiyou replied as she ducked a Heartless that leapt over her head. Swinging her foot out low on the ground, she tripped the dark haired woman, intending to grab her arm and bodily drag her out of the room. Unfortunately, the black monster wasn't finished with Kaiyou yet and reverted to its fist attempt to kill her. Spotting it raising its arms again, Kaiyou dived aside into the swarm of Heartless, feeling their claws scratching her. Where the black creature could only whittle away at her, the Heartless were more than capable of ripping her to shreds, and for every one that got killed, two more seemed to drop into the room.

_'I'm gonna die!'_ Kaiyou thought desperately as the explosion of fire went off around her, turning the Heartless piling on top of her into black smoke. With the area cleared for the brief moment, Kaiyou staggered to her feet again and ran back over to the woman, slashing at the Heartless that was still playing with her. "Come _on_ lady!" Kaiyou pleaded and grabbed the back of the woman's skirt, pulling at it.

This unexpected move caught the woman off-balance and she staggered, giving Kaiyou the chance to catch her arm and hauled her bodily towards Leon who called, "Tifa, over here!"

Finally going willingly, the woman staggered and landed against Leon's chest as he caught her and pulled her away.

"Aros!" Kaiyou heard Sora call, but ignoring him, she turned away and headed for the monster on the other side of the room.

Heartless had again filled the room, and now that she was the creature's only target, the monster started casting spells at her one after another. Ice first exploded off her, followed by fire again, and lightning. Blind was cast three times in succession as Kaiyou waded across the room to attack the monster head on.

Lifting her blade, she slashed at its unguarded stomach as it lifted its hands to cast again. Surprised, its spell didn't go off, and instead, it curled down, reaching for her. Dodging away, Kaiyou managed to avoid getting smashed by its large fists. This one, however, was slower than the white one. Apparently its strong suit was magic, not physical, and the fact that the wound she'd inflicted on it hadn't just healed seconds later was quite reassuring too.

Rolling back in, Kaiyou stabbed her blade into its knee and ripped sideways. The monster apparently didn't like that and topped down to kneel, its white head now in Kaiyou's range.

Around her, though, the Heartless had been gathering, and while she wasn't paying attention to them, several jumped on her, dropping her to the floor beneath their weight. Fighting futilely, Kaiyou struggled to kick the Shadows off. Abruptly, the air around her exploded in fire, and Kaiyou rolled to her feet again, feeling baked and out of breath, blood oozing from cuts all over her exposed skin. Leaping at the monster that was summoning the Heartless, Kaiyou waited till it lifted its arms again to cast at her and slammed her blade into its white face.

The arms abruptly went limp, and with her blade caught in it, Kaiyou was forced to let go and dive back before she was crushed by the falling monster. Before she could land, she was slammed into from the side by a Neo-Shadow, its claws raking at her face. Unable to defend herself from it, Kaiyou brought her arms up to block and rolled. Unfortunately, the Heartless followed her, more catching onto this new game and leaping atop her.

"Thunder!" Donald's voice shouted and an explosion of lightning hit her dead-on, exploding off her shield to stun the Heartless around her.

"Hyah!" another voice shouted and the crowd of Heartless were thinned considerably by a wide blue Keyblade arcing over her head. Reaching down, Sora grabbed her, hauling her up bodily and throwing her over his shoulder. Turning, he dashed back behind the lines of their allies as the others, now recovered from their blinding, came charging in to disperse the remaining Neo-Shadows.

"Aros," Sora breathed, using a potion on her, then another as he knelt in front of her, "You're here," he breathed, suddenly breaking out into a grin. Kaiyou, lifting her eyes, almost grinned back at him - she managed to keep her expression to a slight smirk.

"You called me," she replied.

"You came for me...?"

"You were in trouble."

"But you came." Sora smiled again.

Beyond the corner, she could hear the sounds of fighting, but also, by the sound of it, the group was having a lot easier of a time defeating the Neo-Shadows now, and they apparently weren't coming back.

Kaiyou shook her head slowly, "You were in trouble," she said again as she brought her gaze back to Sora, "...and you've... helped me. A lot." Biting her lower lip, she took a breath, forcing herself to look into his eyes, "I'm beginning to believe that this is real. I'm beginning to think that maybe I... I don't know," she sighed and finally dropped her gaze. His intense expression was unnerving and it was difficult for her to meet his eyes for long, "I came to help you because you've helped me and I owe you a lot more than that, but right now – I have a job to do. I lost something and I need to go get it back before bad stuff happens. I don't want Gary to win because I screwed up."

"Let me come with you!" Sora requested, hands on her shoulders, eyes pleading as he leaned in slightly.

Shaking her head, she closed her eyes to avoid meeting his gaze. The sounds of battle ended in the other room, and now Donald and Goofy and Laguna were cheering happily, "No, Sora. It was my mistake, I'm going to fix it. You've got the mess here to clean up still. Besides, I've got backup. I've got Dad."

Sora blinked at her, "Dad...?" he asked slowly.

Smiling slightly, she replied, "Yeah," nodding firmly, she lifted her eyes, then looked past Sora to Leon as he and Tifa came around the corner. He stopped, lifting a hand to hold Tifa back.

Pressing her lips together, Kaiyou shook her head and pushed Sora's hands off her shoulders, getting to her feet, even though she had to lean against the wall behind her. Taking a breath, Kaiyou set her shoulders and looked up at Sora as he too stood, still very close to her, blocking her escape, but at least she didn't feel quite so unnerved by his unconscious actions. _'After all, I've run away the last two times we've met...'_ Taking a breath, she said, "Dad's a little crazy, but... I've gotten rather fond of him. And... I think he likes me too, and he lets me call him Dad." Taking a breath, she tipped her head back, then rolled her shoulders, "So, don't get in too much trouble without me. Okay?"

Sora, after staring into her eyes for a long moment, heaved a sigh and stepped back slightly, "Alright... since you still don't trust me and all..."

"I do too," she stated firmly, realizing belatedly that the hall had gone very silent and probably everyone could hear her and Sora's conversation, "You have my diary and I don't mind."

Abruptly, he stepped forward and hugged her, making her blush. Standing a little stiffly in his embrace, she waited till he let her go and stepped back slightly, "You be careful too," he told her, "I've gotten kinda fond of you as well."

Grunting, Kaiyou turned, heading off down the hall, "I'll keep it in mind, big brother." She looked back over her shoulder and smirked a little at his dumbstruck expression. Her eyes drifted down to where the rest of the group was, staring at the two of them. Eyes focusing on Laguna, Kaiyou said, "Let's go. Gotta find that book still."

Chewing his lower lip briefly, Laguna stepped forward, patted Leon's shoulder and said with a grin, "Nice seeing you again," and as he headed past Sora, he ruffled the boy's hair. "Stay out of trouble, squirt."

Laughing, Sora ducked slightly, "I will - _Dad_."

The scene came to a screeching halt again, Laguna stopping with one foot raised still, looked back over his shoulder, mouth gaping open. "What'd you call me?" he wheezed.

Kaiyou stopped as well, looking back at Sora, quirking a brow.

Sora grinned, "Thought you could keep it secret forever, huh? I'm a little slow sometimes, I admit, but I'm not entirely stupid." Expression turning serious, he concluded, "You'd better keep Aros safe. My father or not, I'll hunt you down if something happens to him. ...And come back home too? Mom misses you a lot."

Finally placing his foot on the floor, Laguna turned towards Sora with an easy smile, "No problems there!" he saluted, "See you later! Bye Squall!" he added.

Turning away again, Laguna stepped up to Kaiyou, dropping an arm around her shoulders, and pulled her along down the hall, "Hm, I'm getting kinda hungry," he complained, "What you say we find somewhere to get something to eat before we head on?"

"The ship has plenty," Kaiyou stated flatly, "and we're kinda in a hurry?"

Their voices disappeared around the corner, leaving silence in the hall where Sora stood, staring after his father and his adopted brother, Aros. He broke into a grin, "Well, that turned out rather well," he said finally and turned to face the others, then paused as he recalled, "Tron!" and running past the others, Sora headed for the computer room.

"Sora!" Squall called after the younger brunet.

"That man, Rufus Shinra! We have to stop him!" Sora called back over his shoulder as he ran.

* * *

_AN: Dear lord! I'm SO sorry this has taken so long to write, I've just been swamped with homework and had a big dry spell of inspiration. It's evil, you know... I uh... blame the blue cows in my backyard or something. PS. if any of the paragraphs screwed up, it's not my fault, it's ff.n's. it goes funky from time to time. so just tell me and I'll fix._

_Next Chapter: Reunion! Summoner and Guardian united at last!_


	56. Emperor of Darkness

_Chapter 56_

_(Emperor of Darkness)_

Bursting into Ansem's study, Sora skidded to a halt, Keyblade and bracer-blade drawn and ready. Within the room, seated on Ansem's desk was none other than Rufus Shinra, looking quite princely in his white Armani suit, leafing through a familiar green book. Reno was standing beside the desk, hands on his hips.

"Shinra," Tifa hissed, fire flaring in her red-brown eyes as she came to a stop behind Sora, the second to enter the room. Squall was behind her, Donald and Goofy following behind him. "What are you up to this time?" she demanded.

Rufus smiled, lifting his aqua-marine eyes to meet Tifa's hard gaze, "Why, reclaiming my birthright," he replied, "After you and that pitiful little group _Avalanche_ stole it from me." Sliding to his feet, his coat falling straight, Rufus snapped the book closed and held it out authoritatively to Reno. The redhead looked offended, then scowled and took the book anyway. "Did you really think that I would just _give up_? Let you win?" Tifa growled softly under her breath, "I've bided my time and waited for the moment to strike, and now..." he smiled charmingly.

Narrowing his own eyes, Sora frowned slightly, the hair on the back of his neck tickling as Rufus's eyes shifted towards the young brunet. "You..." Sora said slowly, "You're a Prince of Darkness too, aren't you?"

"Hm. Perhaps you're not as stupid as I've been told," Rufus replied with a sarcastic smirk, "and fairly strong, considering that you defeated my pets. Not that it matters. I've got more where they came from, and those were just prototypes. I call them Tytans. Did you enjoy playing with them?"

Rufus smirked again, eyes panning over the group that faced him. "Ah well, I suppose I can't expect everything... However, as much as I'd love to chat with you, I've got an empire to rebuild. I'm afraid this interview is concluded." Lifting his hand, Rufus snapped.

Sora gasped as darkness formed beneath his feet.

* * *

Heading back down the hill in a much better mood than she'd gone up it, Kaiyou headed back the way she'd came, intending to 'port out from the same place she'd 'ported in. Laguna, smiling happily to himself, was walking beside her. Glancing up at him, she had to ask, "Why're you so pleased with yourself?"

"Because Sora knows, and you called him brother and you call me Dad," he grinned all the more broadly at that and looked down at her.

"...it really makes you that happy?" Kaiyou mused, then lowered her gaze. "I'm still just a replacement."

Stopping, Laguna gazed after her and said firmly. "No you're not. There's no replacing people," he shook his head and came forward to hug her. This time, she lifted her arms to wrap around him in return, putting her head on his shoulder.

"You're overly nice sometimes."

Dark bubbles formed in the air around them, popping and dropping Heartless onto the ground. Stepping back from Laguna, Kaiyou drew her Keyblade, looking at the three slightly confused creatures of darkness that stood facing her.

"Thunder!" Laguna cast, this time without the use of his gun.

Amazingly, the shot was a direct hit on the leading Heartless as it started towards the pair of humans. Darting forward, Kaiyou delivered a stab to the second to approach, dissipating it, and with a spin, took out the third.

With a grin, she did her ToonTown End Battle twirl of blade and pose, lifting a hand and shouting, "Victory!"

Laguna laughed.

Turning towards him she added, "And you actually HIT your target, Laguna, that's plus a hundred Cool Points."

Lifting his hand, Laguna called, "Victory! Now my score's only at minus nine-hundred-thousand!"

Kaiyou burst out laughing.

Another Heartless popped in, and Laguna shouted, "Fire!" again, managing to get a direct hit, killing it instantly.

"Woo! Hit my target again!" he crowed, doing a victory dance of his own.

Kaiyou laughed, flipping his blade over her head, then swung it downwards, "Plus fifty Cool Points," she announced.

"Awww! Only fifty?"

Looking towards Laguna, she smirked, "You went up a Coolness Level," she explained, "Monsters don't count the same amount of points when you go up a level."

"Aww, at this rate I'm never going to get back into the positive numbers," Laguna complained.

Grinning, Kaiyou leapt atop a block of rubble and flipped her Keyblade out, "But you're forgetting that you can get points for doing Side Quests too. You only need a hundred and seventy five more points till you level again!"

Laguna put his hands on his hips, "Really? And what Side Quests are available?" he asked, playing along with the game.

"President Loire!"

Heads snapping around, Kaiyou and Laguna stared as the silver haired boy, the blonde man, and the slender brunet girl with a long tail of hair came jogging up the trail. Kaiyou frowned slightly as she realized the two figures flitting along beside the brunet women were not strange birds, but actually a pair of little six-inch tall women.

Kaiyou frowned at the silver haired boy, trying to ignore the way looking at him made her want to blush and crawl under a rock. He, in return, stared at her from beneath that silver mop he probably called hair - and probably thought was fashionable, and admittedly he did look kinda cute and a little shy. Maybe emo, Kaiyou mused as she stared at him. He came to a stop some distance away, his entourage stopping behind him. Silence fell like a fat Chocobo amidst the group and lingered there, refusing to budge so long as she kept eye-contact with the silver-haired boy.

Blinking she looked away finally as she failed to keep her composure, "There _are_ more interesting and useful things to do than follow me around," she pointed out finally as the silence dragged on. Apparently, Laguna was aware that there was tension in the air and was confused by it. Cloud just seemed kind of ... stoic and uninterested in speaking.

"I dunno," the silver haired boy replied, "You seem like a rather interesting girl to me." She flushed. "What's your name?"

Lifting her shoulders a little defensively, Kaiyou frowned at him, taking a step back as he advanced towards her. Silence fell for a long moment before she lifted her chin and replied, "I'm not going to be your conquest, or challenge. And if you keep bothering me, I will fight you. I've got enough problems as is. I don't need someone _else_ trying to take me over and or kill me."

"Aros..." Laguna said softly, lifting a hand in a plea for slight temperance. "Riku's not like that..." He then shot a look at Riku, "_Are_ you?"

Spreading his hands in a shrug, Riku replied, "I've hardly got the time to play with puppets. Besides, they're no fun and the conversations would suck!" Lifting a hand in the classic sock puppet shape, Riku turned and addressed it, "Isn't that right?" then in a falsetto, flapping his fingers, "Of course Riku! You're so smart! You're always right!"

Cloud stared at Riku. Yuna and Rikku gave in and giggled. Laguna was sniggering. Kaiyou pressed her lips together and struggled to retain a blank expression.

Dropping his hand, Riku grinned slightly, "There're plenty of chicks at school that agree with everything I say and I don't particularly like them. So c'mon, I don't bite girls," he grinned slightly wolfishly, "At least not until invited to." Kaiyou flushed bright pink. "So what's your name?"

After a moment more of struggling to get her expression under control, Kaiyou finally replied, "Aros." At least she managed to keep her voice flat and uninviting.

"That's not your name," Riku replied, just as flatly, folding his arms.

Pressing her lips together, Kaiyou remained silent this time.

Riku heaved a sigh, sounding a little exasperated, "That's just what Sora named you," he pointed out.

"I know. I just choose not to tell you my real name at this time," she blushed as those last three words slipped out, then swallowed and finished, "So you'll just have to deal with the name Sora gave me."

"Oh come on!" Riku snorted, "Don't you have an identity of your own?"

Pausing, Kaiyou thought on that, then replied, "I'll get back to you on that." She then stepped forward, intending to continue on her way down the hill. Riku stood blocking her path and didn't seem to get the idea and remained where he was, arms crossed. Stopping a few feet away, she looked up into his face and requested, "Move, sir." It was difficult, standing this close to him, to keep her knees from trembling.

Riku stared down at her from beneath his hair and replied in a softer tone, "I'll see you later."

Kaiyou blushed, unable to stop herself as he stepped aside. Dropping her eyes, she nodded slightly and mumbled, "...later..." before she thought better of it, and hurriedly added, "Maybe." Kicking herself into motion, she started off down the hill.

Finally getting the hint that they were leaving, Laguna headed after her, but paused beside Riku, "Good try, anyway," he grinned a bit, "She just doesn't warm to strangers easily. Better luck next time, I'm sure!" Heading on, he jogged to catch up with Kaiyou and complained, "I'm hungry!"

"Dad... It seems to me that you're _always_ hungry," Kaiyou retorted, though she knew quite well that Riku was still staring at her back as she continued down the hill. She forced herself not to run.

"Not really... I'm not hungry after I eat!" Laguna countered.

Then, the pair were around the bend and out of sight. Riku stared, even after they were gone, wondering at himself. _'She called Laguna 'dad'... does that mean she's Sora's sister? Well, it would explain a lot - like why she looks so much like him. Not exactly like him. She's got dimples when she chews on her lip, and a little freckle at the corner of her left eye. And she's rounder than Sora - well, he's kind of fat, she's just rounded...'_ Riku's expression suddenly turned shocked. "Oh hell - I was hitting on her!" the realization made him blush - and the realization that he'd said that out loud and now Yuna and Rikku were giggling at him made him blush even more deeply.

Irritated, Riku growled and stalked forward, heading up the hill towards the castle, having been told by Aerith that Sora, Leon, Donald and Goofy were up there. She'd also said that she'd be following behind with the other defenders of Radiant Garden. The fight in town was not going well, after all, even with the amount of fighters they already had.

They were retreating.

_'And I just let Aros head back INTO town... uhg - I should go find her...'_ it seemed like a good plan, yet that sarcastic little voice in the back of his head happily pointed out that his ulterior motive was that he wanted to see Aros again. This... was not going to be pretty.

Lost in thought, he didn't realize that he'd made it to the top of the hill until the sound of his feet on the road changed to metal clanging and the terrain leveled out. Stopping abruptly, Riku looked back over his shoulder at the others. Yuna was still being orbited by Rikku and Paine and all three were looking up at the castle before them. Cloud was staring at Riku. It was unnerving.

That was then five bubbles of darkness formed in the air ahead of them. Drawing his Keyblade, Riku dropped into a fighting stance - but stopped when, instead of Heartless, Sora dropped to the ground and rolled, coming to his feet and looking around in confusion. Leon, Donald, Goofy, and a brunet woman dropped from the other balls of darkness.

Standing down, Riku snorted, "Well, if it isn't Sora. Nice of you to _drop in_."

"Cloud!" the woman called, her eyes landing on the blonde first, "It's Rufus! He's controlling the heartless here. He's trying to remake Shinra."

Cloud, stepping forward to stand beside Riku, nodded slightly, "Not surprising," he admitted.

"Riku!" Sora grinned broadly, "You're alright! But what about Kairi and King Mickey?"

"They're alright," Riku reported, "Roxas took them back to Disney Castle. They're supposed to be waiting there for you."

Spreading his hands, Sora could only grin as he admitted, "Got a little tied up here."

"I met Aros," Riku added. "She's a strange one."

Sora stared. Blinked, stared more. "She...?"

"Yeah, Sora. I know a chick when I see one."

Unfortunately, they were out of time for more chitchat as the air behind them suddenly warped.

From the warped air, a ball of scales appeared, pale like flesh, but armored with sharp spikes along the back. Slowly, the creature lifted up, revealing that it had the head, torso, and arms of a woman, the rest devolving into the long body of a snake.

Tifa gasped, stepping back in shock as what had appeared to be hair adorning the fifteen-foot long monster's head, turned out to be snakes, all coiling and hissing independently of each other.

Cloud ground his teeth and growled, "Is there no end to that man's depravity?"

"Is that really Elena?" Tifa asked as the snake lifted up further, exposing her rounded face, large brown eyes, slender nose.

Gazing down at her enemies, the naga snorted and lifted her clawed hands. "Yes," she said, "And I'm looking forward to showing you how powerful I am now!"

Like lightning, Elena's hands darted out. Riku leapt away, drawing his Keyblade as he landed and rolled, barely escaping being impaled by the naga's claws.

Quickly stepping in under Elena's guard, Tifa slammed her foot into the naga's side, but the blow was deflected by Elena's hard scales. Retaliation came immediately in the form of a hand sweeping down to grab Tifa, swinging her at Goofy as he came charging in. Both fighters went down, rolling off across the balcony. As Squall ran up to attack, hoping to get a blow in while Elena was distracted, he was swept off his feet by her long tail coming around to slam into his midsection, sending him rolling away.

Not to be left out of the fun, Sora, Riku, and Cloud made a concentrated charge, hoping that a flanking maneuver would get _someone_ in close enough to hit the monstrous woman. Cloud was unsuccessful, getting blocked by a slash from Elena's claws, Sora and Riku were blocked by her tail whipping across the ground at knee-height. However, it was Donald that actually got a strike in, hitting her with Thunder.

"Two can play that game!" Elena called. Lifting her hands above her head, snake-hair hissing, Elena grinned gleefully as the light in the area warped. The pressure changed, slamming the entire group on the ground, an electrical storm crackling down to strike the entire balcony area. Unfortunately, due to the conductive properties of metal, whether the strikes actually hit anyone directly or not, didn't really matter.

As the storm died, Elena lowered her hands, laughing sadistically at her enemies. Again, she lifted her hands, looking over the heroes as they struggled to stand, selecting her next target. Deciding to pick on Donald for striking her, she lunged forward and slammed her hand down on him, piercing him with her claws as she leaned in. Screaming in pain, the duck writhed on the ground as Sora called out in anguish. Getting his feet under him, Sora morphed his bracer into a blade and leapt at the naga, managing to get the bracer-blade to slice between her scales and stick there. Dangling from her side, he got his feet braced against her scales and started hacking with Ultima, but the blade was doing little damage, just scarring her scales, and his grip on her side was getting slick as blood sprayed across him and she writhed, trying to remove him.

Elena's distraction provided enough time for Sora's allies to come to his aid. Cloud was the first to retrieve his sword and running in, he stabbed his blade into the naga's side, changed his grip, then leapt upwards, dragging his blade through her scales, cutting a long swath. Blood exploded from her wound, making the monstrous creation of woman and Zolom shriek in pain. Finally getting a hand around Sora, Elena pulled him off, throwing him across the balcony, hitting Riku with him as the silver-haired young man was in the process of rushing in.

Gunshots echoed off the side of the building as Yuna recovered, and stalking forward, she fired as fast as she could. Rikku and Paine, still fairies, could do little more than try to attack Elena's face. Her hair-snakes, however, were enough of a shield to keep the two fairies from doing more than minimal damage. Goofy, having gone to Donald's aid, was now ready to attack and made a mad rush towards the naga. Again, as Tifa came running in to try for a back attack, Elena coiled, then lashed out with her tail, sweeping it around to hit both Goofy and Tifa. Having learned better, Squall dived and rolled beneath the tail and was on his feet again as soon as it passed over him, stabbing forward with his gunblade. A deft twist of her body prevented Squall from sinking the tip of his blade into her flesh. Lowering a hand, Elena slapped at Squall but missed as he ducked again.

Finally untangled from Sora, Riku lifted his hand, partially closing his eyes as he reached into his heart, grasping the Twilight energy that resided there. The air and light warping around the multitude of balls of energy he shot from his left palm, narrowly missed hitting his own allies as Cloud darted past, trying to find a new angle of attack. Darting in under Riku's attack and slamming against Elena's side once more while she was distracted, Sora stabbed into the cut Cloud had made earlier with both his blades, but before he could do anything more, the naga grabbed him by the back and reared back, flinging him on the ground.

"Shora!" Donald gasped as Elena grabbed Sora's legs and hurled his limp form away from her, over the side of the balcony altogether.

However, the group was unable to assist the Keyblade master, for Elena lifted her arms again, the energy in the air knocking them all to their knees, lightning dancing around in waves. Though they were slower to recover this time, Yuna was the first to open fire. Renewing their attack on Elena's hair, Rikku and Paine finally succeeded in getting through the biting snakes to the naga's face, slicing several cuts before Elena darted back, hands grabbing the closest weapon she could find - Tifa - which she used to swat at the annoying fairies. Releasing the fist-fighter mid-swing, Tifa landed hard on the ground against the balustrade of the balcony. She didn't get up again.

Looking over at her, Cloud's glowing blue eyes narrowed, and turning, he ran at Elena again, leaping over her tail as she swatted at him. Slashing multiple times, and finally managing to crack the naga's scales slightly. The blonde was about to stab his blade in for a final strike when Elena moved back again, slamming bother he hands down on him, piercing his body with her claws. Squall, taking advantage of the monster's distraction came in to finish Cloud's work, spraying blood over the both of them.

Elena shrieked in pain, her shrill voice going higher as Goofy and Donald joined in, the Dog-man flinging his shield at Elena's shoulder, the Duck shouting, "FIRE!" at the top of his lungs. The scenery blurring as he ran, Riku leapt up, hacking at her hair-snakes, lopping several off. Rikku and Paine, recovering from being attacked, darted into the opening Riku had created and went for Elena's eyes.

Grasping Cloud in both hands, Elena lifted him over her head, slinging him at Riku. Missing her initial target, Elena instead hit Yuna with her Cloud-projectile, sending them both toppling back, Yuna's head cracking against the ground with a clang that left her motionless, Cloud sprawled and bleeding on top of her. "Yunie!" Rikku gasped, and both fairies abandoned attacking the monster in favor of going to their fallen friend.

Squall was Elena's next victim as she curled her tail around, trapping him against her body, spikes digging into him. Shouting in pain, he could do little more than struggle weakly as the naga tightened around him, perhaps intending to grind the brunet to paste against her bleeding side. Lifting her hands, Elena grasped the sky with her bloody claws, turning the air into a painful lightshow. Knocked to the ground again, the three remaining could do little but cling onto consciousness with the skin of their teeth.

Once Elena's spell dissipated, Riku struggled to get to his feet again, body aching, energy drained, even though he felt he'd not done much in this battle. The Naga, apparently finished mutilating Squall, picked up the gunblade master - who was actually still conscious and gripping his sword - and threw him at Riku. Knocked to the ground again, the silver-haired young man couldn't find the strength to shove him off.

_'Dear god - we're going to die...'_ Riku realized slowly as Goofy threw his shield, only to have it bounce off the naga's shoulder without causing any damage. Elena, uncoiling, advanced towards the last two standing, leaving a trail of blood behind her, but otherwise, she seemed quite fresh and was grinning sadistically as the remaining snakes in her hair writhed in excitement.

"Fire!"

Turning his head, Riku blinked as Aerith came charging up onto the balcony, followed by Yuffie, Khimari, Cid, Merlin, and to his further surprise, Aros and Laguna.

"Arosh!" Donald greeted, looking relieved.

"Khimari!" Rikku gasped and flittered up from where she'd been on the ground next to her fallen Summoner.

Rumbling a growl, Khimari ran forward to stand between the naga and Yuna, who still had Cloud piled on top of her.

Cid stopped on level with Khimari, spear also at the ready as he stared at Elena and asked around his cigarette, "Is that...?"

"Elena?" Yuffie finished, holding her shot as she stared, "She sure got ugly!"

Furious, the naga scowled at them, "I'm far more powerful now than you can handle!"

Coming forward, Aros, blade at the ready, went to Riku, pulling Squall off him, then tried to drag the bleeding and comatose man over to where Tifa was lying on the ground. After pulling at him several times and failing to budge the taller man, Aros looked at Riku as the silver-haired young man got his feet under him and helped her. "Where's Sora?" she asked.

"I don't know," Riku admitted as they reached their destination, leaving Squall on the ground next to Tifa. Laguna, upon seeing that Aros and Riku had the others out of the way, had gone to take hold of Cloud, pulling him over with the other wounded while the standoff between Elena, Khimari, Yuffie, Cid, and Aerith continued. Merlin, with the help of Donald and Goofy moved Yuna over.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Aros demanded of Riku. "Did he just disappear?"

Riku, however, didn't get the chance to answer, for Elena, having grown tired of staring at the four that faced her, attacked, simultaneously lashing out at Cid and Khimari with tail and claws.

As one, they leapt away, going in opposite directions as Yuffie hurled her giant ninja star at the monster, nailing Elena in the chest. Unfortunately, the damage was only minor and the naga swung her tail at the dark haired girl in retaliation. Leaping up and away, Yuffie barely escaped getting slapped around, but her luck deserted her a second later as, while she hadn't been watching, Elena had captured Cid as he'd come in to attack, and now he was hurtling towards Yuffie at high velocity.

"Fire!" Aerith cast again and the air around the naga exploded into flames. As they died, however, Elena was still there, and just looked even more angry than before. Lifting her hands, the monster-woman cast her single spell again, knocking everyone to their knees once more and shocked them with electricity.

"Aw hell!" Cid gasped as he staggered to his feet after the blast, "This isn't going good at all!"

Aerith, using her staff to lever herself to her feet as well, looked around, "I suggest... a retreat," she admitted, then looked over at Aros, Laguna, and Riku. Riku immediately nodded.

Dashing over to stand beside him, Aerith felt his hand touch her lightly as he knelt to get contact with the other wounded lying on the ground. Laguna immediately moved to help, leaving Aros to stare blankly as Cid skidded to a halt beside her, grabbed her arm and was in turn grabbed by Aerith and Khimari. Yuffie hurtled herself at Aros, wrapping her arms around the poor confused girl's waist. Goofy and Donald were the last to join.

"Teleport us!" Riku shouted, just as Elena raised her hands to cast again.

* * *

Pain lanced through his body as he opened his eyes. The sky, slightly cloudy and framed by tall granite walls, spun around the face of a bald, dusky-skinned man wearing sunglasses and a suit. The man grunted, though what the man meant by that, he didn't know. Reaching down, the man picked him up, slinging him over a shoulder easily. The world spun in dizzy, sickening splendor, and darkness closed in on him again.

* * *

_AN: see, Summoner meets Guardian! Not who YOU guys had thought it would be, eh? Lol. Please review. This chapter was a bitch to write. ...remind me to never write a battle scene with THAT many characters in it again?;.;_

_Next Chapter: Hard choices and sacrifices. Will she stay to fight with them or go? And what's with Cloud and co.?_


	57. The Better Part of Valor

_Chapter 57_

_(The Better Part of Valor)_

Light flashed, and Kaiyou stood with blue-dot-special blinding her eyes for a moment before gasping, "You just left _Sora_!" she accused, scowling at Riku as he staggered to his feet in the now crowded confines of the bridge of his ship. Cloud, Yuna, Tifa, and Squall were lying on the teleport pad, Goofy and Donald were crowded practically on top of them with Merlin flailing to keep his balance and not fall on anyone. Laguna immediately slipped off the raised edge as they appeared and nearly fell on his rear. The others, who were still conscious and unwounded hopped off the pad after, including Kaiyou, even as she accused Riku.

"There was no time," he replied, limping towards the pilot's chair to lean against it.

Eyes narrowing, she started to stalk towards him, then realized that the ninja girl was _still_ clutching her waist. "Get off me!" Kaiyou snapped, too irritated to be more polite, "You - you abandoned Sora!" The ship she found herself in was a strange one - not her ship. On a guess, she would have said it was Riku's.

"There was no _time_, girl!" Riku snapped back, irritated that she was being so emotional about it. Yuffie's grip on Kaiyou immediately dropped. Aerith, meanwhile, worked on casting curing spells on her nearly dead allies, waking them slowly one by one.

"Aros," Laguna said, intending to intervene in the argument before it got worse, but she rounded on him too.

"How could _you_ for that matter?" she demanded of him. "He's your son!" Climbing slowly to his feet after being healed, Squall shoved a hand through his hair, leaning against the wall beside him with one hand as Aerith moved on to the next wounded. His clothes were ripped and bloody, but he appeared alright, perhaps a bit dizzy.

Laguna stood with his mouth open. Expression tightening, Kaiyou scowled at him even more darkly. "Aros, I think you're overreacting a little," he started again, trying to think of something to say to her.

"We can't go back now," Riku pointed out, "Regardless."

Tears in her eyes, Kaiyou clenched her fists, then started as Squall spoke, "He's fine, I'm sure." Turning, he addressed Riku, "Try calling Sora's ship, maybe he teleported back there?"

Nodding, Riku headed for the com console, worried despite his bluster at Aros. Taking a seat, he tried calling the other ships in orbit around Radiant Garden.

Neither answered.

"Gawrsh..." Goofy said softly, looking over at Donald, "I hope he's okay..."

Lifting her hands to her necklace, Kaiyou scowled at everyone and stalked over to the corner on the other side of the room. It looked like she was stuck here for a while.

"Wait–" Yuffie said, "You mean _that's_ a girl?" she demanded, pointing a finger at Kaiyou. "But Sora said Aros was a boy!"

_"Riku!"_

A holographic image appeared above Riku's console, Kaiyou's eyes widened as the fuzz coalesced, revealing a familiar pair of blue eyes set in a face she was relieved to see. But as the image cleared further, Kaiyou's heart sank once more as her hopes that Sora was alright faded. Instead of Sora, it was the face of that blond kid she'd seen briefly in Alexandra that frowned down at Riku. "Roxas," Riku greeted, sighing softly, "should have known you'd show up."

Roxas's eyes narrowed slightly, _"Can it, Riku. Where's Sora?"_

"Now who's that?" Laguna asked, stepping closer, hands on his hips as he gazed at Roxas, head tipped slightly to the side.

Looking back over his shoulder, Riku replied blandly, "Your other son."

"...Huh?" Laguna asked, drawing back to stare at Roxas, then Riku, then Roxas again. "_Other_ son? I only had two so far as I know, and I don't recall this one."

Kaiyou folded her arms and stated sourly from her corner, "So that's three sons and a daughter. You breed like a rabbit, Laguna."

"I like bunnies..." Laguna admitted, getting distracted.

Roxas did not look amused. _"What do you mean, Riku? Our father is-"_

"President Laguna Loire," Riku supplied and gestured back at Laguna, who'd turned back around at the mention of his name.

"What?" the mage asked, "I don't quite get what's going on."

This time, Roxas remained silent as he stared at Laguna. Riku continued, "Roxas is Sora's Nobody."

"You mean Sora's a Heartless?" Yuffie cried, eyes wide, hands lifted as if horrified that she'd ever touched him. Aerith looked back over her shoulder at the conversation and laughed softly as she finished healing Cloud and turned her attention to Tifa.

Drawn back to reality, Roxas replied, _"He was briefly, but not anymore. I have half his heart, giving me a physical presence. We split up because we had far too many people to track down and keep track of. Riku, where's Aros?"_ Roxas looked thoughtful as he stared at Laguna.

"She's hiding in the corner back there," Riku jerked a thumb towards her, "pissed off at me."

_"You probably did something to deserve it,"_ Roxas replied blandly, eyes falling half lidded. Riku lifted his hands in protest. _"And you changed the subject, where's Sora?"_

"He got thrown off the balcony during the fight," Squall supplied, since no one else seemed like they wanted to, "We had to retreat without him."

_"..."_ Roxas closed his mouth into a firm line.

Squall frowned and concluded, "We lost Radiant Garden. It belongs to Rufus Shinra now."

_"Damn,"_ a new – yet familiar – voice replied and a green-eyed redhead leaned into the view beside Roxas. _"Why'd you go and let that prick win? I thought you guys were better than that!"_

"Reno," Cloud growled as he stepped forward slightly. The bridge of Riku's ship was a little over-crowded. Riku shifted the perspective on his camera to show Roxas the entire group. The Partial-Nobody sat back in his chair and blinked.

_"Cloud,"_ the redhead mocked right back, _"My name's Axel. Memorize it, retard,"_ then stuck out his tongue. Roxas elbowed the taller Nobody beside him and sighed.

Now with everyone healed, Yuna standing next to her Guardian near the back of the bridge, Kaiyou hiding in the far corner with Squall beside her, Laguna standing behind Riku, Cloud beside him, Tifa, Aerith, Yuffie, Cid ranged behind Cloud, and Merlin standing with Goofy and Donald on the only space left – the teleport pad, Roxas suggested, _"Maybe we should trade a few passengers?"_

Riku snorted, "Nah. You think?"

"I'm with Aros," Laguna stated immediately, "We can take a few people." He looked back at Kaiyou to check and see if she had any objections. She leaned against the wall, expression sour, looking down at the floor.

_'Back to having no say in anything that goes on around me,'_ she thought at Umi. _'I thought Laguna was different.'_

"I'll go with Roxas," Yuna announced, "Khimari's coming with me." The Rhonso didn't even bother grunting in agreement, just stood rock solid beside his Summoner.

Cloud looked back at his group, and gestured to them as he headed towards the door at the back. "We'll be back in a moment," he said in a slightly dark tone. Tifa, Yuffie, Cid, and Aerith filed out after him, giving those remaining a little more room to breathe.

Laguna turned to look at Squall, smiling vapidly, "Want to join me and Aros?"

"It's up to her," the gunblade master stated.

Laguna turned that smile on her, "Well, what do you want?"

Grinding her teeth and folding her arms on her chest, Kaiyou replied, "Do I really have a choice?" Lifting her eyes, she flicked her cold gaze from one person to the next, landing hard on Laguna – who flinched – and Riku – who didn't. "What if I really don't want to go anywhere with you people? What if I want to be left to my own devices? Or are you asking me what I want just as a matter of ceremony in preparation for running right over top of me just like everyone else in my life does?" Laguna's smile faded. He looked more than a little hurt.

"Aros, you're a capable fighter." Riku stated, trying to remain calm and collected, "It would be useful to have you on our side."

"I have other things I feel I should be doing," Kaiyou replied.

Folding his arms, Riku tapped a foot and asked, "Like what?"

"..." she looked down, "I have to get that book back. And find Sora."

"It wasn't your fault the book got stolen," Riku stated firmly. "It was just something that happened. As for Sora, it's too dangerous for you to go back down there alone to hunt for him."

Kaiyou's expression hardened.

Irritated at her stubbornness, Riku frowned - took a breath to say something - but shut his mouth, letting her have her silence. In that silence, she reached over, grabbed Squall's sleeve, dragging him stumbling along, and collected Laguna as well as she stalked towards the teleport pad. Goofy, Donald, and Merlin abandoned it to let her by, and a flash of light later, she was gone.

"That... could have gone better," Riku sighed and scrubbed his face a little, shoving his hand through his hair. His bangs fell back into place directly afterwards.

The door into the back opened, Aerith stepping through, smiling slightly as she looked around the remaining crowd in the room. Turning his chair, Riku hooked an arm over the back and looked at her. Aerith hmmed softly, "Where did the others go?"

"Aros took Squall and Laguna to her ship – I hope," Riku replied, turning slightly to check his monitors and make sure Aros hadn't taken off yet. A moment later, her ship sent out a message, and answering it, Riku was surprised to find Squall manning the comm. He was just in time to hear Aerith speak.

Smiling, Aerith continued into the room and sat down in one of the chairs beside Riku, "Oh. The poor girl... At least she's aware that she has family now."

Squall lifted a brow and asked, _"What do you mean?"_

Emerald green eyes turning towards him, Aerith smiled serenely, "Tifa said she called Sora her big brother."

"I heard her call Laguna her father," Riku added, "I guess he's decided to adopt her. What's her problem anyway?" he threw his hands in the air, "Acted like I was going to skin her and eat her!" Dropping his hands again, Riku sighed and shook his head, "My ship is too crowded still," he pointed out, "Anyone else going to jump ship?" he looked towards the others as he got to his feet.

Yuna touched Khimari's arm and said, "We'll hop over to Roxas's ship now." Heading towards the teleport pad with Rikku, Paine, and Khimari in tow.

Looking around, the old wizard Merlin nodded to himself a little before stating, "I believe, I'll go with her," he smiled and took a place beside the High Summoner-Gunner and they all disappeared in a flash of light. Roxas briefly looked away from his view of Riku and Squall. Apparently his passengers had arrived.

"Is the powwow in the back done or what, Aerith?" Riku asked.

Looking up at him, she smiled without comment.

With little choice but to just take that as a 'you can go back there if you want.' Riku rolled his shoulders and headed towards the back. He was starving. He also needed to kick some of them off his ship. Stalking through the connecting door between the cockpit and the back area, which was little more than a single room with a fridge, microwave, closed shower stall, sink, and cot to sleep in, Riku entered just in time to overhear Yuffie saying, "He's a little rude, but I kinda like him. I don't think he's -" she snapped her mouth shut and they all turned to look at him.

"Right," Riku stated, knowing immediately by the look of guilt on Yuffie's face that she'd been speaking about him. "Hope I'm not disrupting anything," he said with a heavy dose of sarcasm in his voice. Heading over to the fridge, Riku opened it, sorted through it for something to eat, located a packet of something, tossed it into the microwave, then folded his arms, turning to lean against the fridge door and looked around the room, "Well? Continue, Yuffie? You were going to say I'm ultra sexy and you want in my pants, right?" She flushed and looked down. "Listen, I don't know what you guys seem to think I am, or who those idiot silver haired guys back in Radiant Garden thought I was, but I'll tell you this: my name is Riku Valentine, I'm a Twilight Keyblade master, a sophomore at Destiny High, and Sora and Kairi's best friend."

The microwave peeped at him. Turning, he opened it, pulled out the packet and found a fork, "So I really don't give a damn about who, or what, everyone else seems to think I am. _I_ know who I am." He gave them all a hard look, making sure to meet their eyes individually. Cloud's gaze was unreadable. The brunet woman's was undecided. Cid... was nodding. Yuffie was blushing still, but apparently agreed. Riku supposed that Aerith had already stated her opinion on the matter and had gotten tired of arguing with the others.

Figuring that he'd gotten his point across, Riku headed for the door to the bridge. He paused there, however, "And you can't _all_ stay on my ship," he reminded before stepping out and heading back to the pilot's seat. "So," he addressed Squall, "Where'd Aros go?"

_"She's sulking somewhere,"_ he stated blandly.

_"A lot like you do,"_ Laguna pointed out as he sat down beside Squall with a sigh, then started spinning around in his chair. _"Wheeee..."_ Squall rolled his eyes.

Stepping forward, Goofy asked, "Gawrsh, ya think it'd be alright if Donald and I joined ya, Leon?"

Nonchalantly shrugging, Squall looked towards Laguna. _"Fine with me."_

Nodding and heading over to the teleport pad, Goofy grabbed hold of the back of Donald's shirt, pulling the stubborn duck along. In a flash of light, they disappeared.

_"A little crowded,"_ Roxas stated, _"But the ride is short at least."_

_"Meet you back at Disney Castle?"_ Squall asked, taking control when Laguna was too busy spinning his chair. Roxas and Riku nodded. _"Lead the way then."_

Roxas nodded, and Riku glanced down at his radar screen, watching the Partial-Nobody's ship turn and head off. Squall's ship turned, heading off after and Riku, driving one-handed, took the rear.

Squall added, _"Left a message on Sora's ship computer as to where we all went... Hopefully he'll get it."_ Roxas and Riku nodded, admittedly, neither of them liking the prospect of just leaving Sora, but it was too dangerous to stay. Closing the comm connection, Squall's image disappeared. Roxas's disappeared shortly after.

* * *

Kaiyou sat in the darkness of the room Laguna had first dropped her into after they'd left Salem, knees pulled against her chest, shoes on the floor. She'd been in her room for the last hour. She'd heard Goofy call her name from outside the door. She'd ignored him. He'd gone on. She'd heard Donald go shuffling past. She'd also ignored him and he'd not tried to bother her. 

However, she was really starting to feel lonely and wanted a hug. She wanted someone to tell her that she still had some control over her life. She wanted someone to tell her that everything would be okay and that Sora wasn't lost. She wanted Sora to appear out of thin air and say he was bloody alright with his own mouth.

Laguna was the next best thing, though.

Crawling off the cot, she slid her feet to the floor and crept over to the door. Placing her hands on it, she slid the door open a crack, peeking out. There was no sign of anyone in the hall, no sound. Kaiyou slid the door open further and stuck her head out. All the other doors on the short hall were closed. She could faintly hear Donald snoring in the room across from hers. That was fine. She didn't want to talk to him.

She didn't want to talk to Goofy either, but he was second choice if she couldn't get a hug from Laguna. Turning right, she touched her hands to the door and slid it open slightly, but stopped as she heard voices.

"What was I supposed to do? You _married my sister_!" Squall's voice stated - possessing more heat then Kaiyou had heard out of him yet. She stopped, not wanting to interrupt, not wanting to get caught listening, but also far too curious to step back and go find Goofy. Setting her eye to the crack of the door, she peered through, finding Squall pacing back and forth across the bridge, Laguna was in the co-pilot's seat. Kaiyou supposed the ship was on autopilot, seeing as how space outside was zipping past at a fair speed.

Laguna flinched, "Ellone's not your sister-" he started to object.

"I _grew up_ with her!" Squall interrupted, "after you just abandoned us in that orphanage." Turning, the Gunblade master stalked back across the bridge in agitation. Hackles rising, Squall turned on Laguna and scowled, "You're such a jerk! This is _exactly_ why I left!"

"You left because you were running from your memories of Rinoa," Laguna stated bluntly and stepped forward, putting his hands on his son's shoulders. "You know I loved your mother, Squall. But she wouldn't have been happy with me if I'd wasted the rest of my life pining over her. You need to move on, son, and you need to accept that you can't be everywhere at once."

Squall hung his head in silence.

"At least... come back to Esthar and see us sometimes? Ellone really misses you," Laguna pointed out, "and Sora doesn't even realize you're his brother." Leaning forward slightly, Laguna smirked, "Wouldn't it be so funny to see his reaction when we tell him? You haven't told him, have you?"

Scowling, Squall replied, "Hell no. I'd have to admit being related to _you._"

Kaiyou bit her lips together, _'So that's Laguna's eldest son who defeated the Sorceress...'_

Again, Laguna flinched, "Look, Squall - I'm sorry, I've told you that a million times, but the situation was just... not stable. I didn't want to bring you into the middle of it. Can't you get it through that thick head of yours that I just wanted you to be safe? I think Kaiyou's experience should have shown you that you got off easy."

Lips pressing together into a hard line, Kaiyou scowled. _'That ass! My name isn't his to just tell everyone!'_

Squall paused, turning to stare at Laguna. "You know... I think that's the first time I've heard you speak her name since she died."

Looking away, the man shifted, "They never found a body..."

"In a wreck like that? It's surprising they found anything big enough to identify the kidnappers with," Squall folded his arms and scowled again, "You need to quit deluding yourself. She's dead." Irritated, he began to pace again.

With a sharp breath, Laguna turned back to face Squall, eyes hard, "I'm not crazy," he stated, "I know she's alive, and I think I found her." He paused dramatically, "Aros."

Squall came to a stop, arms folding on his chest. "I'll admit she looks like Sora," he started.

Standing abruptly, Laguna lifted his chin and stated, "You've seen Sora lately too," he stated, "You've seen how he acted around her. And you saw how she reacted to him."

"Sora _always_ runs to the rescue," Squall objected, but not very loudly. Kaiyou got the feeling he was making some connections that he wasn't telling Laguna about.

Laguna, however, leered in at Squall and grinned, lifting a finger to wag at the younger brunet man, "Yes, but _she_ ran to _his_ rescue from several world-jumps away. Completely unprompted!" Putting his fists on his hips, Laguna continued, "And I'm betting you've heard him talking to himself."

"Ki'you," Squall admitted finally. "I thought... Ellone locked those memories away."

"The locks are breaking," Laguna replied, "Under the pressure of her return. They were always so close."

Kaiyou could hardly breathe, clutching her necklace even as Squall turned away, facing the door she was hidden behind. She felt as if her heart had stopped, and only realized that Squall had seen her after he'd stalked over and shoved the door open.

Staggering back a step, she yelped as he grabbed her shoulder, pulling her into the bridge. Terrified of him, she pulled away, but it was too late, he'd closed the bridge door and locked her in with them. Terrified, she quickly skittered away from Squall, her socks easily sliding across the decking. "Squall, don't do that," Laguna admonished and stepped over, gathering Kaiyou against his chest. "Shh. He's just mad at me. You didn't do anything wrong."

"...you told him my name," Kaiyou whispered in the silence of the room, crushed against Laguna's chest, arms wrapped around herself, hand clutching her necklace. Even though she felt comforted by his embrace, she couldn't find the strength to return his hug. She stared over her shoulder through her hair at Squall, eyes wide, tears of betrayal standing in them.

"He already knew it, honey," Laguna said gently.

Closing her eyes, Kaiyou turned her face against his chest fully, breaking into soft sobs, finally able to clutch his shirt with one hand, the other still clutching her necklace. "Then it- it's true?" she whispered brokenly, "Sora really _is_ my brother? And he's my brother too? And you're really my father? And I have a mother?"

Laguna, quite confused, gazed down at her as she lifted her face to look up at him. "Yeah - sorry I didn't tell you before, but I didn't think you'd believe me... Are you mad?"

Shaking her head, Kaiyou sniffled and wiped her nose on her arm-sock, "No! No-" she clutched him fully this time, wrapping her arms around him so tight the mage's breath wheezed out. "Dear god," she said, still crying against his chest, "not just _a_ family, but _my_ family!"

A sobering, and frightening though hit her then and she stepped back so quickly that Laguna staggered, "Gary - he can't know! He'll kill you!" she turned to look at Squall, finding him standing with his arms folded, looking skeptical. "He hates me - he hates me so much he'll do anything to hurt me. He _can't_ know about this!"

Shaking her head, Kaiyou turned back to Laguna, her tears drying on her cheeks just as quickly as they'd come. Taking a breath, then letting it out with a sigh, Laguna shook his head, "He's... a problem we will deal with together. That boy needs a few lessons in discipline."

Squall snorted.

"What's so funny?" Laguna asked.

"Seifer," Squall replied, as if that explained everything.

Kaiyou looked down at the ground, "Seifer... Oh! He's in Twilight Town, with Vivi... I still have that message for Vivi." She looked towards Squall again who was gazing at her curiously, however, lacking anything further to say, Kaiyou fell silent.

Coming forward and putting his arms around her again, Laguna caressed her hair gently.

However, Squall's amusement had passed fairly quickly and he was now standing frowning at Kaiyou again. She frowned right back at him, meeting his eyes boldly. "I want to know how you survived," he stated. "What happened? How did you end up in a place where you could get kidnapped?"

Unable to meet his gaze any longer, she dropped her eyes in shame, "I ...don't remember. ...I ...think I removed the part of my heart that memory was in... along with all my memories of Sora and you two. I don't know what happened. I just know that I was found wandering near a car crash in Okinawa and assumed to be the daughter of the couple that had died. By the time they realized the mistake, I was already in the System and the paperwork thereafter was so screwed up that no one could adopt me. I got shuffled from one foster home to another as..." she had unconsciously put her arms around Laguna's waist, clutching him, "as I kept...screwing up things," she finished, voice breaking into a whisper and she shut her mouth, not wanting to admit to anything more. At least not right yet.

Laguna stroked her hair gently and backed up a step, drawing her along with him until he reached one of the three chairs up at the front of the room. Turning it, he took a seat and pulled Kaiyou into his lap. Squall eyed the two of them, then turned, heading out the door.

"He doesn't like me," Kaiyou said softly.

"He's like that towards everyone, Kaiyou," Laguna soothed. "Even Sora."

Closing her eyes, she put her face against his shoulder, "Dad... will Sora be okay?"

"You'd know before any of the rest of us if he wasn't," Laguna pointed out. "Your hearts are linked."

Sniffling a little, Kaiyou pressed her lips together, falling into silence.

_'If we're so close... why can't I feel him?'

* * *

_

_AN: hooray. Another chapter! And in a reasonable amount of time too! I pat myself on the back. Also, I fixed issues in Ch56. And Also Also, please review? I like reviews. They make me happy and want to write more..._

_Next Chapter: Arrival at Disney Castle and a massive plot-review._


	58. No Ghost, Just a Shell

_Chapter 58_

_(No Ghost, Just a Shell)_

Another two hours later, and she was standing next to Laguna in the king's library, staring at the floor. She'd not been introduced to everyone, and even then she was a little confused on all the names and only remembered a select few out of the lot of them. Mostly the ones she'd seen more than once or who stuck in her head otherwise.

It was a crowded room, full of people she mostly didn't know, making her uncomfortable and like she was standing naked in gym class. Laguna had his arm around her shoulders, but she suspected that was less of a comforting gesture and more of a way to keep her from bolting back to the ship without taking at least him.

She disliked his lack of trust in her.

The door on the other side of the room opened and the king and queen entered with Daisy and the chipmunks behind. Donald and Goofy came to attention and saluted. Laguna gave a nod of equals. The gunner woman with the fairies curtsied and her friends stood stiff and silent behind her – or in the case of the yellow and black fairies, flew at head height to their taller companion. Kaiyou's gaze flicked up briefly towards the young woman, admiring her pleated short skirt, ruffled half-skirt, and camisole top. She succeeded in looking capable, but girly at the same time. Even the black fairy looked girly – Goth girly, but still girly. The yellow girl's outfit was just adorable.

Then there was Tifa's outfit. She wore a half-skirt as well, and shorts, doc martins, and a tank top, managing to look deadly and sexy at the same time. The Ninja girl's outfit was also cute, but Kaiyou didn't really like her choice of wearing just one fishnet stalking. The other woman's pink sundress was what Kaiyou was really jealous of.

After a moment more, another blonde man entered with the long-haired version of herself, as well as the redheaded girl Kaiyou had briefly seen in Alexandria. Merlin lifted his hands, waving his fingers, and in a puff of smoke, a multitude of chairs and couches appeared for everyone to sit in. Kaiyou jumped slightly and was clutched against Laguna's side even more tightly as he pulled her down to sit on a loveseat that had appeared behind him.

"Well, now that everyone's here," Mickey said, then paused, "where's Sora?"

"MIA," Riku replied, settling into his chair and lounging back, putting an ankle atop the other knee. "Hopefully, he'll catch up later." He folded his arms on his chest.

Mickey had taken a seat on his desk, Minnie was perched on a chair beside him. Daisy was sitting next to Donald. Goofy took a seat on a chair on Mickey's other side. Merlin had taken a seat near Goofy. Cloud had decided to prop up the wall near Squall, and Tifa was seated on a chair near Cloud.

"Well," Laguna said, "is that Kairi? I haven't seen _you_ in forever! You sure have grown!"

Kairi smiled at him, "President Laguna!" she greeted happily, then peered curiously at Kaiyou, who frowned right back at her.

"Is that Sora?" the long-haired version of herself asked, looking towards Kairi.

"No Kosuiko," the redhead girl replied.

Pouting, Koko gripped the front of her skirt and swayed, staring at Kaiyou with wide eyes. "I want to meet Sora. Demyx, let's go find Sora!"

The blonde man, addressed as Demyx, shook his head, "Not right now, Kosuiko. Sit down and sit still," he ordered. Koko pouted at him, then hopped across the room – literally – and dropped down to sit next to Kaiyou. Much to Kaiyou's discomfort. Demyx sat down near the door and due to Demyx's choice, the blonde spearman, Cid, was now sitting near him on a couch next to Aerith. Kairi sat near Riku between him and Roxas. Behind Roxas, Axel was propping up the wall. Yuna took a dainty seat with Khimari standing behind her chair, Rikku and Paine sitting on her shoulders.

"I'm..._so_ confused," Yuffie complained abruptly as she flopped into a chair near Squall, knees apart in a very un-girly pose, "Who's she?" she pointed at Kosuiko, "and who's _she_?" she pointed at Kaiyou, "Can _someone_ explain what's going on?"

Silence dropped into the room as everyone looked around and trying to find someone who apparently knew what was going on. Kaiyou knew many had looked at her, but she turned, putting her face against Laguna's shoulder. _'If I don't meet their eyes, they can't call on me!'_

"Alright," Roxas sighed and climbed to his feet again, addressing the large circle of heroes, "I guess I'll start with the Organization." Pausing, he glanced towards Axel who shrugged slightly. "Apparently, like Xemnas said, you can't destroy Nothing, and Nobodies apparently qualify as Nothing, and like how Hearts become Heartless again when left alone, what's left becomes a Nobody again when not properly disposed of. As for what happens with Souls, who knows."

Aerith giggled softly behind her hands. As if she knew.

"So the kid everyone thought was Sora, really wasn't. He's not really a _he_ either, he's a she, and she wants to go by the name of Aros, even if that's not her name," Roxas looked at Kaiyou to make sure of that. She nodded, even though her face was still pressed against Laguna's shoulder. "And it turns out that she's really Sora's twin sister, who was thought to be dead and still can't remember what happened to her or how she got where she was when she disappeared, or when she reappeared back on Destiny Islands. And Sora can't remember her very well because his mother, Ellone, locked away his memories of both Aros and his father," Roxas continued, "And Laguna is really the president of Esthar, also Sora and Aros's father, who has been missing for the last four years, since Destiny Island disappeared into the Darkness." Kaiyou supposed Squall or Laguna had talked to Roxas for him to know all of that... She had been in her room for quite some time on the ship before going out to talk to Laguna.

_'Or maybe he's more observant than Sora?'_ Umi suggested.

Looking towards Squall, Roxas took a breath and continued, "And Squall, also known as Leon, is also Laguna's son, making him Sora's half brother. As for me, I'm Sora's Nobody. Or was. I currently have half his heart, so I can have a physical presence, which means our link to our sister is halved, making it difficult to make contact with her except in moments of high emotion, which is how she and I knew that Sora was in trouble." Pausing to pinch the bridge of his nose, Roxas began to pace, "So that explains the multitude of Sora's running around. But what's up with Kosuiko?" he looked towards Demyx.

Kaiyou eyed Koko as Demyx answered, "She's a Nobody, I think, except she's not like other Nobodies. Most nobodies are made up of a body and soul, but Koko _has_ no soul, which has caused more than a few problems for me in the past." Demyx eyed Kaiyou, "And seeing those two together," he pointed at Kaiyou and Koko, "It's obvious who's Nobody she is."

Lifting her face from Laguna's shoulder, Kaiyou demanded, "So you're saying I'm a Heartless?" This was certainly new to _her!_

"Aros," Roxas turned towards her and stated, "Who is Umi?"

"Uh..." blushing scarlet, startled that he knew Umi's name. _'Then again, I did talk to Sora fairly often about Umi.'_ She scuffed the floor with the toe of her shoe, "A voice in my head?" she offered, deciding to just give up and be honest.

Roxas shook his head, "From what Sora's told me of her, and my own experience of her, she acts more like your Nobody than Kosuiko. Demyx says you're akin to a Heartless, so perhaps Koko is your body, Umi is your soul, and you're the Heart?"

Shrugging, Kaiyou replied, "I dunno. Maybe. I don't know anything about this stuff."

_'He is correct,'_ Umi told Kaiyou. _'I am indeed your soul, which is why Kosuiko seems so lifeless.'_

Eyeing Koko, Kaiyou frowned, "I'm a Doll, a lost heart, and a Ghost." Looking briefly back towards Roxas, she admitted, "Umi just told me that you're right. So I guess you're right."

Laguna pouted at her, "Don't say such pessimistic things," he grinned a little, "Or I'll be forced to give you the Cuchi-Cuchi treatment!"

"Ugh!" Kaiyou slid away from him on the couch and bumped into Koko who blinked at her, "That sounds gross! Don't touch me, you dirty old man." She wasn't quite quick enough to get away and was attacked with tickles that had her laughing fairly quickly. However, she finally got away and took refuge behind Riku's chair, "You all saw it, he's abusive!"

Riku lounged back in his chair and smirked, "Sure," he stated, "And next you're going to say I'm kind and charming."

Eyeing him, Kaiyou snorted, "I only lie by omission."

"So by not answering the question, you're agreeing that I'm kind and charming?" Riku asked, looking back at her over his shoulder.

"And I'd be lying," Kaiyou replied.

The silver haired boy snorted in amusement.

Rolling his eyes, Roxas stated, "Anyway, back to the subject at hand." Taking a breath, he started up with his monologue again, "So now Maleficent and Xemnas are working together, collecting the Princes of Darkness to open the door to Kingdom Hearts again, after Riku, Sora, Aros, and I finish making it. However, the Princes, especially Gary, apparently have their own agenda's. Unfortunately, they're all after the same thing; the Amplifier, which Sora has a portion of on his left arm as a bracer."

Kaiyou turned pale.

"But-" she gripped the back of Riku's chair, "But _I_ gave that to him!"

Silence fell. They all stared at her.

"No wonder everyone's after her," Riku mused, expression darkening slightly. "All these bad guys and only one trophy. Maybe if we're lucky, they'll start killing each other off."

Demyx folded his arms, "Well, Gary's already started trying to do that."

Mickey shook his head, "That might not actually be as good a prospect as you think, Riku. They still have to cooperate long enough to get Kingdom Hearts, and we can't exactly just _stop_ killing the Heartless."

Squall spoke up finally, "and we have to go back to Radiant Garden and oust Rufus Shinra."

"What's this?" Mickey asked.

Roxas lifted his hands, "Hey, I was nominated spokesman here, I'll get to that in a moment."

Silence fell again and Roxas lowered his hands, "Alright, so Aros is the Amplifier, which explains why Yen Sid told Sora to look after Aros specifically."

"Except he's missing," Kaiyou murmured, fingers still gripping the back of Riku's chair, his hair brushing against them, his shoulders warm against her skin. She blushed slightly as she realized she was leaning over him, smelling his hair.

Riku turned his head slightly to look back at her and whispered, "Sorry."

Roxas continued, "So we have Aros, they have Kingdom Hearts and Radiant Garden... now what?"

"Well, we can't just sit here," Squall stated.

Nodding slightly, Roxas began pacing again, folding his arms on his chest as he said, "So Rufus, working with the Sephroids, hacked Tron and brought down the defense system. Reno the Turk stole the book with the weapon diagram in it, and gave it to Rufus, and now Sora's missing."

Looking around the room, Roxas returned to his seat and sat down, "So that's about it on the important information," he concluded.

Kaiyou looked down, staring at Riku's hair before stating, "I guess... I should combine with Kosuiko... so there's less confusion. Um. How do I do that?" She looked at Roxas.

_'You can't.'_

"What?" Kaiyou blinked, then blushed as she realized she'd spoken out loud, interrupting Roxas.

Umi repeated, _'You can't. You need all the pieces of your heart before you can.'_

_'Can't I just try?'_ Kaiyou asked.

"Well, I just sort of walk into Sora," Roxas admitted, answering her question, being unaware that Umi had Kaiyou's attention. "And he accepts me."

Frowning slightly, she stared down at Riku – realizing that he'd partially turned to stare at her and she was now looking directly into his eyes. "Something wrong?" Riku asked.

"I -... Umi said I can't... just combine with Kosuiko." She frowned slightly, "Not only am I a tool, but I'm a broken tool. Pieces of me scattered everywhere!" She sighed, feeling utterly stupid for being unable to keep track of all her various bits.

"At least if you're broken, you're not of much worth to the enemy," Riku pointed out.

Kaiyou frowned at him slightly, "But what's to stop everyone _here_ from trying to use me? What can be used one way can be used the other."

"Aww," Laguna replied, "Honey, we wouldn't do a thing like that to you!"

Lifting her eyes, she looked firmly at Laguna, "Don't lie to me. Not in that tone of voice." He bit his lower lip. "I know, if you had to, you would use me," looking away, she sighed, "You'd probably feel bad about it..."

Silence fell after that.

Taking a breath, Kaiyou shook her head, "In the end, it doesn't matter. I'm apparently the key to destroying Xemnas once and for all. Yen Sid told me something when Goofy and Donald took me to see him." reaching back into her memory, she quoted, "He said...Nothing is broken and Nothing is whole. Seek the Fallen Garden, there, you will find the remnants. You must uncover the past, and only when all the pieces are in place can you destroy Nothing."

Roxas looked like he'd gotten hit with a bolt of lightning, "Your diary!" he said. "That's where the pieces of your heart are."

Kaiyou hunched her shoulders slightly, "Sora has that," she pointed out.

"Even if the enemy got hold of it," Squall stated, "they won't be able to read it. _I_ couldn't."

Blushing, she scowled at him, "That wasn't yours to read anyway! Keep your nose out of other people's business."

Squall shrugged slightly and didn't apologize. He did, however, say, "So the blonde that looks like Kosuiko is Umi?"

_'You saw Squall? When? How?'_ Kaiyou demanded of her Soul.

_'When he downloaded your diary into the Tron computer system. The book was not damaged.'_

Sighing, Kaiyou muttered, "and that's all _you_ care about. Umi sometimes..." she shook her head.

Riku snorted softly, having heard Kaiyou.

"So," Cloud spoke up for the first time, "In order to defeat and destroy Xemnas, we have to wait around for Sora to read Aros's diary?"

Roxas shook his head, "The sense I got was that the memories unlocked when she was reminded of them."

"Like Binx and Beel," Kaiyou murmured, "And Dad getting arrested for something he didn't do."

Shifting to sit sideways in his chair so he could see her, Riku squinted up at her. Kaiyou, however, was staring at the floor, avoiding everyone's eyes. She didn't like this at all. She'd never been special before, but now, she was ...

_'I'm the key to winning this war, but only if I remember everything and become whole. Except I'm a tool that can be used by either side - which means that they're probably going to try to lock me up.'_ Lips pulling down, Kaiyou scowled at the floor, _'They won't lock me up. They can't!'_

Mickey, meanwhile, had started speaking, and she came back to attention in the middle of his sentence, "fortifying the castle. We have the Cornerstone of Light, which will keep the Heartless away and most of the Nobodies." He eyed Axel and Demyx.

Squall nodded, "It would make sense to have a headquarters to branch out from. We'll have to go to the other worlds and fortify them as well."

"Except it doesn't seem to matter if the world Hearts are locked to the Darkness," Cloud pointed out, "Rufus and Sephiroth apparently have gotten through the barriers."

"Each world has its own way of defeating the Darkness," Aerith pointed out, speaking up finally, "We just need to boost each world's defense systems."

Cloud went still, and the expression on his face made Kaiyou look towards Aerith, wondering the significance of what she'd said was.

Tifa slowly shook her head, "Aerith - if you're talking about using the White Materia again..."

The woman in pink smiled, "You all blame Sephiroth for killing me, but what I didn't tell you was..." her eyes flicked down shyly, then their brilliant emerald depths flashed in the light as she lifted her gaze again, looking first at Cloud, then the rest of her friends, "I had to die. The White Materia mustn't be used lightly, and so the safeguard is that the one who Prays to the Planet must sacrifice themselves to carry their prayer personally."

Yuffie sat forward on her chair, "You're kidding!" she exclaimed, "How come you didn't tell us? That's a dirty rotten trick!"

"I didn't want you to stop me," Aerith replied, "I'm sorry. But I can promise that I will only use the White Materia again if it's the very last option. What I meant when I said 'boosting each world's defenses' was to awaken the Lifestream. Since coming back, I've had a closer connection to the Lifestream. I might be able to use it to cleanse Sephiroth."

Cid squinted at her, "Cleanse him?" he asked, "Why the hell would you want to do that?"

She cast her serene smile at Cid, "I've done the process once already with great success."

"That doesn't answer the question," Riku replied, irritated.

Aerith smiled at him too, "Of course it does. Without Jenova infecting him, Sephiroth's heart would be free to heal."

Cloud pushed off the wall, arms folded on his chest as he stepped closer, coming to a stop beside Tifa, "Cleansing - that's how you cured Geostigma, isn't it?" She nodded. "And you think you can do that outside of the Lifestream?" Aerith nodded again. "And you think this will stop Sephiroth?"

She smiled again, "You know first hand that it was his realization of what he was that pushed him over the edge. You and Zack were the nearest thing he had to friends. It is Jenova's infection that drove him insane. Once he is cleansed, I think we will be able to save him."

"Save him," Cloud muttered, avoiding Tifa's hopeful red-brown eyes. Expression falling, she looked down at the floor, knees pressed together, hands on them.

Watching the brunet woman's body language, Kaiyou felt very sorry for her. She, apparently loved Cloud, but he was too pigheaded and stuck on his Vengeance to realize. Kaiyou sighed softly, "Cloud needs bashed over the head," she muttered under her breath, "too stupid to realize he's hurting the people who love him."

Riku snorted softly, having been the only one to hear what she'd said. "Probably," he agreed, "I'll do it now if you want?"

Biting her lower lip, she looked down at him, finding a slight smirk on his lips and realized that he was joking. "It only works when you do it with a pink squeaky hammer," Kaiyou informed him. "Are you manly enough for the task?"

"What's so funny?" Kairi whispered, leaning towards them.

Starting and blushing, Kaiyou looked away. Riku replied, "Nothing."

Kairi sighed, irritated that the two weren't going to tell her.

"I'm hungry!" Koko suddenly announced.

"Mnn," Laguna mused, "so am I. How about we take a break and reconvene after dinner?"

Mickey, looking around - noticing Merlin passed out in his chair - said, "That sounds like a good idea. We can discuss fortifying Disney Castle first, then taking the fight back to Radiant Garden."

Hopping down off his desk, Mickey dashed to the library door and waved, "Follow me!" he said cheerfully.

Getting to their collective feet, the massive group headed out the door, following the mouse king.

* * *

If, at this time, Xigbar _could_ have been afraid, he _would_ have pissed his pants as he stood in front of the door to Xemnas's office. He'd been standing there for nearly five minutes, hand raised to knock. However, he hadn't quite screwed up the courage to do so yet.

_'What I need... is a drink,'_ Xigbar decided, knowing that he could find courage in that bottle - or at least dull the knowledge of what Xemnas was going to do to him once he actually got up the courage to knock on that door.

"Is there a reason... you are standing in front of my door like a moron?"

Xigbar winced, turning around, hand still up. Putting on a smile, he opened his palm and waved at Xemnas. "I ah. Was coming to report, but uhm. I knocked and you weren't in."

"So you waited?" Xemnas asked, wearing a bored, blank expression.

Thinking on that briefly, Xigbar decided that the best thing he could do at this point in time was nod in agreement.

Brushing past Xigbar, Xemnas pushed open his office door and stepped in, "You shouldn't lie."

Head hanging, the Nobody turned around again and followed Xemnas into his office. Reaching his desk and turning, Xemnas frowned at Xigbar. "Let me guess. Not only did you fail, you failed miserably." Sighing as he folded his arms, Xemnas lifted his chin slightly, "And now, it's just a matter of details. So report, number two."

Clearing his throat, Xigbar shifted from one foot to the other uncomfortably. "Well... the girl didn't meet _Sora_ anyway... I mean, I'd recognize Sora if I saw him and the one I saw wasn't Sora. Looked like the girl with short hair, actually."

Xemnas's silver brows lifted slightly, "You found the girl's heart?" His cheek twitched as he snapped his teeth shut. "Go on. What happened?"

"Well, Roxas and Axel showed up, and one of the Sephroids and a few other people and then Gary. Gary kidnapped the girl and Demyx went after him, but I don't know what happened to them. I looked everywhere for him and the girl, but I haven't seen a hair of either of them." Xigbar finished, lifting both his gloved hands in a shrug. "Sorry, Xemnas, but I tried. Oh, and Reno's not working for you, I don't think. He just kind of ran off when the fight started. I didn't bother fighting with them for long either. I figured you'd want that girl found more than Roxas and Axel killed."

Pressing his lips together, Xemnas replied, "Indeed. Axel and Roxas can be dealt with later." Pushing off the edge of his desk, Xemnas stalked closer to Xigbar, hand lashing out to grip the other Nobody's throat, "However, that doesn't excuse you from the fact that you _still_ managed to lose the girl!" Shoving Xigbar away, Xemnas began pacing around the room. "Xigbar, your new task is to find the girl. Never mind Demyx. Find the girl and bring her back here. I will deal with Gary and Reno myself."

Rubbing his neck, Xigbar wrinkled his nose slightly as he answered, "Yeah, alright. ...But uh, we've got all the Princes now, what's the holdup on the rest of things?"

"First," Xemnas growled, rounding on II, "Our Kingdom Hearts is not complete. Second... we do not have the Amplifier. However, I am working on the second and it will only be a short time before my plans are complete and we can get rid of all these irritating Heartless that are running around underfoot. Go." Xemnas pointed towards his door, "And don't come back until you have the girl." Xemnas's lips pulled into a smile and Xigbar shivered inadvertently, "Because if you do..."

Retreating from the room, Xigbar shut Xemnas's door quickly and sighed. "Great... Would you like a slice of the moon for dessert too?"

Turning away, he started off down the hall. "Better swipe more of Reno's brandy while he's out, while I'm here," Xigbar added to himself, then grinned, lifting his head.

"No!"

Coming to a stop, Xigbar looked around, finally placing the voice as none other than Larxene's, "Don't touch me!" she screamed. Her voice was apparently coming from the library, which was just down the hall from where he was.

Brows furrowing, Xigbar lifted a hand to scratch under the edge of his eye-patch. "Now that's a funny thing for her to say," he mused.

Again, she screamed, this time in what was a good imitation of terror and Xigbar nodded slightly, "She's pretty good at that," he mused in appreciation.

The library door slammed open and the blonde woman stumbled out and turned towards him, "Xigbar!" she gasped, "Help me!" her form was leaking thorns of Darkness as she staggered towards him, clutching her side. Behind her, Gary stepped out of the library, easily catching up to her within a few steps.

"Xigbar," Gary said in greeting and smiled.

And even though Xigbar did _not_ have a heart, that smile sent chills through him. Larxene sobbed, struggling to get away from Gary's grip, lifting a hand out towards Xigbar, eyes wide. He stared at her, unsure of what she wanted, but knowing full well not to mess with Gary. _'I think... Gary scares me more than Xemnas ever did,'_ Xigbar decided right then and there as Gary partially turned, dragging Larxene back towards the library.

"You'd think a girl would be able to make up her mind. She says come play, so I do, and then she runs away." Gary smiled again.

"Xigbar!" Larxene shrieked as the library door closed behind her and Gary.

Opening a portal into Betwixt and Between right there, Xigbar fled the castle.

_'I don't think I'm gonna see her again...'_ he realized.

And didn't care.

* * *

_AN: Well. There's your big plot-review of the story and a little advancement of the plot besides! Hope you liked it! Please review._

_Next Chapter: Riku gets grounded and the scientists do a happy rain dance around their altar of evil!_


	59. Object of my Objection

_Chapter 59_

_(Object of My Objection)_

As if things couldn't get any more uncomfortable.

She was now sitting at a very big table with a bunch of people she didn't know. It was almost as bad as that awful meeting. At least this time, she wasn't the center of attention. This time, Yuna had taken center stage and was talking about, of all things, treasure, and looking for it.

"You see, we need our Garmentgrids to return Rikku and Paine to what they're supposed to look like. After our world fell into Darkness, we were turned into fairies instead of Heartless," Yuna explained.

Nodding, Goofy replied, "Well, Gawrsh, Miss Yuna, we'll sure keep our eyes out for your clothes racks."

"Garmentgrids," Rikku corrected. "Yunie, show him yours!" the yellow fairy turned towards her much taller friend.

Nodding, Yuna set her fork down and shuffled in her pocket, pulling out a strange little grid-like object with circular holes in it. At the bottom was a blue-green stone that glowed softly at Yuna's touch. "This one is mine. It affects my form, so if someone else puts it on, they'd look like me."

Leaning forward to get a better look, Minnie admitted, "That's probably a little confusing."

"Dangerous," Kaiyou muttered, but more under her breath where she was sitting between Laguna and Roxas. Riku was across the table from her. Mickey was at the head of the table, Minnie on his right - Goofy and Donald across from her, Yuna beside her.

Looking over at her, Roxas smiled slightly, "Likely," he agreed. His friend, Axel, had declined to eat with them, as had Merlin and Khimari. Merlin said he wanted to talk to Yen Sid and had disappeared in a puff of smoke. Khimari was standing behind Yuna's chair like the guard he was.

Squall, Cloud, and Cid had gone off, Kaiyou suspected, to smoke, though _they_ said it was to think of some fortifications for the castle. Kaiyou wished she'd been able to sneak off as well.

"You seem upset," Roxas observed, leaning over to whisper to her.

Kaiyou stared down at her untouched dinner, hands in her lap, refusing to reply to him immediately. Beside her, Laguna was wolfing down his dinner, Kosuiko, on his other side, was doing the same, eyes wide and watching him.

"Kaiyou," Roxas whispered, leaning closer, hand touching the back of hers.

His use of her name made her lift her head and scowl at him. "He told you too?"

"No. Most of what Sora knows, I know," Roxas explained, then sighed softly, grasping her hand more fully in his, "I know it's difficult - being told you're only a piece of someone. ...being told that you're not supposed to exist in the form you're currently in. I understand. I got told the same thing."

Expression softening, Kaiyou continued to stare at him silently.

"But you exist now, so there's no undoing that, even if you do become whole. _I_ still exist, even though I've returned to Sora." Roxas squeezed her hand gently, "So whether you were supposed to exist or not doesn't matter now. Can't undo it."

Still with nothing to say, Kaiyou gazed at him, then looked back towards her untouched dinner. "I guess..." she said finally and closed her eyes.

He squeezed her hand lightly once more and said, "We'll talk more later... Just know that you can trust me as much as you trust Sora."

Kaiyou didn't answer that and he let go of her hand, returning to his dinner.

"You alright, Kaiyou?" Laguna asked from her other side, "You haven't touched your dinner."

"Kosuiko eats enough for the both of us," Kaiyou replied.

Laguna frowned at her, "Eat something. At least your vegetables."

"God," she muttered sitting back in her chair, "Just because you haven't been in my life for the last - however long - does not mean you need to multiply your parental concern by three for each year."

The president pouted a little at her, "Is it impossible for me to make it up to you then?"

Lowering her eyes, Kaiyou picked up her fork, sorry for taking out her frustration on him. He hadn't deserved that. "No, Dad... I'm just... I'm fine. Sorry for worrying you."

Gently petting her hair, Laguna leaned over and kissed her temple. "You're tired," he said, "You always got crabby when you were tired."

Hunching her shoulders a little, Kaiyou blushed in embarrassment.

"Sora would just fall asleep. Regardless of what he was doing." Laguna sniggered.

"He still does," Roxas added, "Usually in class."

Clicking his tongue and shaking his head, Laguna stated, "Will have to do something about that."

"Unlikely you'll have any effect," Roxas replied, finishing his dinner and pushing the plate aside.

Laguna grinned, "Wouldn't hurt to try though!" Turning back towards Yuna, he addressed her, "So, Miss Yuna, what was your profession on your world?"

Smiling slightly, Yuna replied, "I was a Summoner." At the confused expressions around the table, she explained, "I called forth the spirits of the dead in the form of an Aeon to protect myself and my people. There are no Summons anymore, though, so I'm now a Sphere Hunter. We look for ancient Spheres in hopes of unlocking clues to the function and building of the Machina that our ancestors employed."

Laguna nodded, "You should visit Esthar. Our entire capital is run by machines."

Rikku happily did a back-flip, "I'm _so_ there!" she exclaimed.

"And while you're there, you can collect Tidus and Wakka and take them back to where they came from," Riku stated, speaking up for the first time during dinner, "They irritate me."

Yuna blushed and covered her face with her hands.

Kicking Riku's shin under the table, Kaiyou frowned at him. "Ow! What was that for?" he asked, eyeing her.

"Teasing a girl about her crush. You're a real jerk, you know that?" Riku drew his legs back to prevent Kaiyou from abusing them further and huffed at her. He didn't argue, she noticed. _'I guess he had indeed intended to harass Yuna about her crush.'_

Meanwhile, everyone else finished eating their dinners and Mickey stood, leading the way back to the library. Out on the porch-hall, they found Cid, Squall, and Cloud leaning against the balustrade, looking out across the darkened garden. Cid was the only one smoking, so maybe they'd actually been discussing plans.

"Dinner finished then?" Cid asked and dropped his cigarette on the ground, grinding it beneath his boot.

"Yep!" Mickey replied.

Aerith, yawning behind her hand, said, "I think I'm going to get some rest."

Nodding in agreement, Yuna added, "Me too. It's been a long day."

Looking up at the two other women, Minnie replied, "I'll show you to rooms. Daisy?" The lady duck nodded, agreeing to accompany her queen. Tifa, after glancing at Cloud, turned and headed after the queen.

"I'm a little too tired to think any more tonight, Yuffie admitted and turned to jog and catch up with the others, still radiating energy despite her words. Then again, considering that Kairi had decided to abandon the group as well, Kaiyou suspected that they weren't actually going to bed but were, in fact, going off to have a Girls Only party.

What little she'd eaten turned into lead in her stomach, _'And of course I'm not invited. Maybe it's because I'm a Heartless?'_

"It's Kosuiko's bedtime," Demyx stated after a look at Laguna, who had his arm around Koko's shoulders, since Kaiyou had removed herself to the edge of the group, inadvertently ending up near Roxas.

"I'll take care of her," Laguna replied cheerfully, and Kaiyou struggled to find a hint of malice in his tone. Alas, there was none directed towards Demyx, despite the fact that the Nobody had essentially crossed into what Laguna considered his duty as a parent.

Shrugging, the Nobody turned, "Alright. _You_ can carry her to bed." Apparently, Demyx didn't really care one way or another.

_'Maybe that's why Laguna wasn't angry?'_ Kaiyou wondered. Admittedly, she was starting to feel rather tired. _'When's the last time I slept? ...last night. In Alexandria. Has it only been a day since I was there?'_ Staring at the floor, she started as Roxas touched her hand, taking hold of it to guide her back into the library with the seriously diminished group. Cid, apparently, was staying outside to have another smoke. Goofy and Donald saluted Mickey and remained outside as well.

Unable to tell Roxas to leave her be in time, Kaiyou was shut into the library once more and led over to one of the couches Merlin had conjured earlier. Sitting down on it, Roxas pulled her down beside him. Uncertain and uncomfortable, Kaiyou perched on it beside him, ankles crossed, hands clasped together tightly in her lap. Cloud and Squall remained standing, leaning against the wall. Laguna pouted slightly as she was forced to sit with Roxas, but after taking a seat and getting Koko in his lap, he was forced to deal with the situation as it was.

Again, Mickey took a seat on his desk, Riku sprawled in the chair he'd claimed before dinner.

"So, Leon, Cloud, did you guys think of any ways to fortify this world?" Mickey asked, swinging his feet.

Without looking at Kaiyou, Squall replied, "There are two obvious ways we can stop our enemies. First, we have to keep Xemnas and Maleficent from getting the Amplifier. With it, they can overpower the Cornerstone," he started with. "And as long as we have it, we can amplify the Cornerstone's powers, holding those born by Darkness at bay."

Fury burned in her chest, making that leaden ball of what little she'd eaten at dinner turn into molten lead. _'I'm an IT now, am I?'_ she demanded of Umi furiously. Clamping her lips shut, she stared at the floor. Roxas didn't seem to notice. Laguna actually looked at her, but she missed seeing his expression.

"Second," Cloud picked up before Laguna could say anything, "if we destroy even one of the Princes of Darkness, they can't complete their plans."

Mickey nodded, his feet swaying in rhythm. Taking a breath, he was about to speak when...

"_Riku_!"

Wincing as he recognized the voice and the tone of it, Riku knew his doom had somehow tracked him down, even here.

Getting to his feet, Riku decided to at least go down fighting as the library door slammed open, propelled by a single-armed man who stopped in the door, his chin-length raven black hair ruffled by wind, his red eyes glowing eerily like fire. He was wearing his usual white button-down shirt with the left sleeve pinned up, partially untucked from his black pants, usually shiny dress shoes a little smudge.

Riku inadvertently flinched at the fury in the man's red eyes as Vincent Valentine stated in a low, dangerous growl, "Riku - you are _so_ grounded!"

Cloud blinked, staring at Vincent, then gave a sudden and undignified snort and covered his mouth with a hand to hide his smile. His shoulders were still shaking. Cid, who was still outside, was standing with his mouth open, cigarette fallen unnoticed on the floor, smoking still.

Taking a breath and squaring his shoulders, Riku replied, "Dad. I _am_ sorry I've disappeared so often and for so long these last four years, but I'm _not_ sorry for the reason. And honestly, you can try to ground me all you want - it's not going to stick. I'm just a little busy trying to save the universe, so - you should just go home... however you got here."

Vincent remained where he was, then blinked, looking around, "... Saving the universe?" he growled under his breath as his eyes focused on Cloud, "You..."

Cloud hmmed softly, "I guess he really _is_ related to you. I thought his last name was just a coincidence."

Riku rolled his eyes, "If _only_. But might I ask... how you guys know each other?"

Vincent frowned slightly, looking aside, "I joined the fight to defeat Sephiroth and save the Planet." Riku was a little stunned. First of all, his father was not only a hell of a lot more interesting than he'd first thought, but he was also no longer fuming mad. This was a serious difference from whenever Riku had irritated the man in the past. Usually Vincent would lecture him in a voice that while not raised was about as bad as getting beaten, and then Vincent would be at the same topic for days on end. Not this... sudden dropping of it.

"Radiant Garden," Riku supplied, trying to hide his wonderment. "Should have known..." Shaking his head, Riku stated, wanting to escape before Vincent decided to rant at his son more, "I'm going for some fresh air." With that, he stalked past his father, out into the hall, shutting the library door behind him. Cid, apparently deciding that talking to Vincent was much more entertaining than smoking by himself alone, entered the library.

"Mnn." Laguna mused, "Welcome to the party, Mister Valentine, have a seat, we'll fill you in."

Kaiyou stared down at the chair Riku had been occupying, then looked towards the door - then looked towards Laguna and Kosuiko only to find that Koko had fallen over against Laguna and was now sleeping on his lap. Now that everyone's attention was on Vincent, Kaiyou sidled around the edge of the big circle of chairs.

_'I'm not going to stay here and listen to my own brother refer to me as an object ... a tool.'_

"So, Vincent, how did you get here?" Cloud asked.

"I have my ways," Vincent replied enigmatically, eyes half lidded, "What's going on, and do you need my help?"

Taking a breath, Cloud started into repeating everything they knew thus far. Squall was the only one that noticed Kaiyou as she sidled past him. He, however, didn't say a word, even though the look she cast him was one that promised death.

Relieved to have exited the library at last and without any harassment, Kaiyou took a breath and let it out, then turned, looking to the right to find that she was on a porch-hall, overlooking a large garden with an animal band as topiaries. Riku, however, was not there...

He was, however, at the end of the balcony and stalking around the corner. Despite her fury over Squall and Cloud's total disregard for her status as a person, Kaiyou didn't want to be alone, and not knowing where the other girls went - nor figuring that she was invited to their party, her only option was to follow Riku.

Biting her lower lip, Kaiyou started off, heading after him at a fairly fast clip. However, she still tried to keep behind him and out of sight... just following. After all... even though she kind of wanted to talk to him, she didn't have a clue of what to say! However, she felt... that he too needed some company. Even if he thought she was just a tool too, she was at least better than nothing.

_'Ohhh! Umi, what do I do?'_ Kaiyou asked as she followed Riku up a flight of stairs that ended abruptly in a balcony overlooking a good portion of the castle, including the gardens.

Coming to a stop in the doorway, she swallowed and started to duck back again when Riku, who'd been standing at the edge of the balcony turned to face her. "Why are you following me?" he demanded.

Caught, Kaiyou looked down, hand fiddling with the thin silver bracelets on the other wrist. "...you...seemed angry."

"Maybe I am? What's it to you?"

When she didn't answer, he turned away, putting his hands on the balustrade, staring hard out into the moonlit darkness beyond. "Go away," he told her.

Her feet, however, disobeyed her.

Kaiyou had _fully_ intended to just leave him. After all, he was an asshole towards her...

Yet there she was, shuffling forward until she was standing next to him, still staring down at her hands - at his hands on the balustrade. _'How big they are... how strong looking...'_

Biting her lower lip, she was about to take a breath to say something. He interrupted her. "Sometimes I just can't stand him!" Letting her breath out silently, she remained quiet to listen. Riku, however, didn't say anything more for a long moment.

_'Maybe... he has just as much trouble talking about the stuff that bothers him as I do?'_ Kaiyou wondered, and the realization gave her the courage to lift her eyes, looking up at his profile. _'This is probably the kind of thing he'd tell Sora... but Sora's not here and I don't think he and Roxas get along, even if Sora and Roxas are technically the same person... But... why is he telling ME then?'_

"After mom died, he told me that I was going to have to be responsible. He told me that I was going to have to help him around the house a lot because he couldn't do a lot of things," Riku said, "But then I start actually acting independent and he gets a bug up his ass. Throws temper tantrums in that stone-silent way he does and won't talk to me like... like he used to."

Gazing at Riku's face, Kaiyou released her bracelets finally, placing her hands on the balustrade as well, leaning against it slightly. He looked... so fragile now. Not the same stony asshole from before at all. _'It's a front... Because he's afraid of being hurt too. He doesn't want to let people in too closely... But why is he trusting me?'_

"And sometimes... I swear I catch him looking at me like he's expecting me to suddenly go stark raving mad and murder everyone," Riku added, pressing his lips together into a hard thin line.

Fingers tightening on the balustrade, Kaiyou took a breath and replied at last, "It makes you nearly want to do it, too, huh?" He nodded slightly. "I don't know what to tell you to do about it. But I do at least understand..." Looking away, she gazed off across the expansive grounds of the castle, "Back in the orphanage I started out in... Gary used to set things up for me to take the blame for them. I didn't realize what he was doing back then, but after a while, whenever _anything_ happened, I'd disclaim it immediately..."

"And get blamed for it anyway," Riku nodded slightly, looking at her now.

"Yeah," Kaiyou said softly, voice dropping to a whisper briefly, "And after that... when I got sent to foster homes, my foster parents would always read my file and see that I was listed as a trouble maker. So they'd always be watching for things to go wrong. And of course, I'd make a mistake and then the mistake would get blown completely out of proportion to what actually happened..." Bowing her head slightly, Kaiyou took a breath to steady herself, "so I guess... what I'm trying to say is that... I understand the feeling - that you're being watched by him. Like he's waiting for you to screw up... it's an awful feeling." She trembled a little, "I feel it all the time."

A breeze ruffled Riku's hair slightly and he lifted his right hand, pushing his bangs out of his face, shoving them behind his ear. When he placed his hand back down, it landed over hers, covering it completely.

Flushing bright pink, Kaiyou averted her face, staring out at the scenery. Riku, however, looked down at her in the same moment - blushing as well. Peeking at him from the corner of her eyes, heart pounding in her chest, Kaiyou made no move to pull her hand back. She was surprised when he didn't bother moving his either. _'What IS this?'_ Kaiyou desperately wanted to know.

Thrilled.

Terrified.

Excited.

Kaiyou could hardly breathe, but managed to speak anyway, "You know I don't like you."

"Right," Riku replied, "I don't like you either."

Swallowing, she nodded a little, even though she was staring at him still, from the corner of her eyes. He was wearing an amused expression. "Good... So long as we're both clear on that."

Riku nodded. "Quite clear, Aros."

"Kaiyou."

He paused. "Kaiyou," he repeated, lips curling into a slight smile. "Ocean. All your names have to do with water," he pointed out. "Kaiyou, Umi, and Kosuiko."

She nodded, "It must be a theme. Maybe someday, there will only be one of me and there won't be this big confusion on names."

"I think you're hiding behind 'Aros' because you don't want anyone to know who you are," Riku replied.

"I think you're being nosy," Kaiyou shot back and blushed as she felt his fingers tighten over her hand. _'He's hiding too...'_ she realized.

"I think I'm right," Riku retorted, smirking at her. His expression softened then, "I am sorry for leaving Sora like that though. I _am_ worried about him. He's my best friend."

Lifting her eyes to meet his gaze, Kaiyou replied, "I know... I get... over emotional sometimes. Sorry about yelling at you like that."

Riku smiled slightly, "We'll find him. He's a lot tougher than you might think. After all, he can kick my ass any day of the week."

Snorting, Kaiyou tossed her hair back from her face, then smirked at him in return.

Riku's breath caught as she flashed him that slight smile, her eyes sparkling in the moonlight. Admittedly Kairi was cute, and she had tits, but Sora liked Kairi and Riku honestly... _'I'm no poacher, and she and I just wouldn't last. Besides. She likes Sora... but Kaiyou...'_ he mentally tasted the name, savoring it, savoring the show of trust she'd given him, just by telling him her name when he doubted anyone other than her father and brothers knew it. _'Maybe Xemnas did this - maybe he intended for me to follow Kosuiko around like a stupid puppy... But next to Kaiyou, Koko is indeed nothing more than a breathing Doll. Kaiyou may not be capable of holding either light or darkness in her heart on her own, but she still possesses a ...fire.'_

Licking his lips, Riku took a breath and withdrew from Kaiyou's personal space, having belatedly realized that he'd been leaning in closer. Kaiyou seemed to have only realized after he'd moved back - and blushed involuntarily. _'And she and I have similar outlooks on life, I suspect,'_ Riku added as he continued gazing at her.

"Something on my face?" Kaiyou asked.

"Hm?" Riku blinked, "No. Lost in thought."

She started chewing on her lower lip, revealing those slight dimples she had.

_'Even if Xemnas jumpstarted this... I think I would have noticed her on my own. Maybe not as quickly, and she probably wouldn't have decided to trust me so quickly...'_

In turn, she was staring up at him, and Riku smirked slightly, realizing that he rather wanted to know what she was thinking. "Wonder if there're any leftovers from dinner to scrounge," Kaiyou said out of the blue.

_'Well... there goes MY hopes!'_ he concluded, but was still amused, _'I'll take good care of her while Sora's missing. I WON'T let anyone use her. Even Mickey. We can win without having to make her into a tool. We WILL win. How could they just ...sit there and talk about her like that? And Laguna didn't say anything! ...and she just sat there, staring at the floor, expressionless, as if she really didn't care.'_

"Let's go down and see?" Riku suggested, stepping away from the balustrade, pulling her hand off it as he went. She didn't resist and walked with him as he headed back down the stairs.

_'No. I'll say something next time they try to dehumanize her like that,'_ he decided, _'They won't get away with it.'

* * *

_

"Xemnas is not happy," Vexen announced as he entered the room that had been refurbished to be Hojo's lab.

The room was fairly large with a large cylindrical tank set up on the far wall. In the center of the room was an operation table with appropriate lighting and rolling treys with equipment. To the left was a set of benches with test tubes, Bunsen burners, and many more objects of science with a multitude of projects going on at once in the various beakers. On the right were bookshelves of Hojo's notes and reference books. He complained often about being unable to recover all his books from Nibelheim. He bitched continuously about being unable to obtain a sample of his precious Jenova. He whined occasionally about Sephiroth never coming in for checkups. And Hojo was currently muttering beneath his breath about peons eternally trying to rush his work.

Vexen really didn't care about Hojo's irritation and irritability. After all, Hojo was a mere human - although he acted enough like a Heartless to pass as one for the Heartless wandering the Castle that Never Was. And even if he had ever bothered to wander beyond the hall that connected his room and this lab, Hojo was unlikely to be molested by anyone or anything.

However, Vexen had just gotten lectured by Xemnas, which meant that he was supposed to harass Hojo about his lack of progress, and while Vexen wasn't particularly frightened of his superior, he did not like the consequences of failure. Demyx, for sure, was going to be in it deep... _if_ he was stupid enough to show his face around here again.

"Hojo," Vexen stated, stalking over to where the scientist was hunched over his benches on the left side of the room, scribbling carefully in pinched handwriting into a book. "Xemnas is-"

"Confound it!" Hojo snapped and straightened, turning to face Vexen, his beady dark eyes squinting behind his precisely polished glasses. "I couldn't care less what that unprincipled moron is feeling - not that he really _can_ feel anything. Why he's so impatient, I just don't understand!"

Staring at Hojo with a bland expression, Vexen pondered actually answering the obnoxious, pompous ass's rhetorical question... then didn't bother. After all, such things as knowing what was going on beyond his lab were beneath him. Vexen personally did not believe in that kind of narrow mindedness, seeing as how it was outside influences that had brought Hojo his latest test subject: Sora.

Turning back to his book Hojo bent down over it again to continue writing his calculations and observations.

While normally, Vexen would have respected a fellow scientist's wish to finish writing out a thought before it slipped away, Hojo _never stopped_. Thus, it was impossible to speak to him without interrupting something. If only this man had been an accountant. Then Vexen wouldn't have the displeasure to deal with him.

"You should find it in your _heart_ to care," Vexen stated sourly, "After all, there are things that can be done to you that you would find extremely unpleasant."

Straightening once more, Hojo frowned, pushing his glasses up his nose with his middle finger. Vexen wasn't sure if that was a calculated insult or not, but said nothing of it. "Xemnas," Hojo pronounced carefully, "Does not understand that great discoveries take _time_!" Lips curling into a sneer, he continued, "And he knows full well that he cannot get rid of me. After all, I'm far too useful." And because Hojo was at heart petty and egotistical, at least in Vexen's opinion, he continued by stating, "And I get results, whereas you do not. Was I not the one who discovered the way to chain that Clone's heart so that Xemnas would have control of him?"

"Riku," Vexen stated blandly, "Has been nothing but trouble from the beginning. And I do not believe he is one of your Clones of Sephiroth, as you claim."

Hojo snorted derisively, "Peon," he stated and started to turn back to his work.

"Regardless of what Riku is or is not," Vexen interrupted, "I am required to request your reports from the last few days' work on Sora."

Growling in irritation at this further delay, Hojo stalked across the room to the cylindrical immersion tube where a young brunet hung suspended in green liquid, his face partially obscured by an oxygen mask, eyes closed, spiky hair floating every-which-way. "Nothing but trouble, the lot of you!" Hojo complained as he came to a stop in front of the tube's databank and typed a few keys. A moment later, the printer beside it began spewing out papers. "There. You have his vitals from the moment I got him."

"That," Vexen stated blandly, "Is hardly useful. Is this how you ran your lab under Shinra?"

Affronted by Vexen's suggestion, Hojo spun to face him and stated, "Fettering Genius only creates inferior work!"

"Meaning, in short, that you really don't have anything to report and you are just wasting time," Vexen interpreted.

Further infuriated, Hojo admitted, "I am in the middle of an experiment to determine why the Keyblade chose him!"

Vexen said nothing. If he'd actually had a heart, Vexen would have been very irritated. After all, what did it matter why the boy had been chosen? What _really_ mattered was how they were going to gain control of his heart and make him hand over the piece of the Amplifier he had on his arm as a bracer.

"In the process of which," Hojo continued, "I discovered that this boy is missing half his heart."

This information made Vexen pause. "Where is the other half?"

Hojo smirked, gloating over the fact that he'd successfully caught Vexen's attention. "I don't know," he said, wearing at Vexen's patience. "It hardly matters either way."

"It does indeed matter," Vexen stated flatly. "For whatever you do to this half can possibly be undone by the other."

"Finding it is _your_ problem!" Hojo snarled and stalked over, jabbing Vexen in the chest with a sharp finger.

Barely controlling homicidal urges, Vexen somehow kept himself from taking hold of that finger and ripping it of - taking Hojo's arm with it. "Your orders are to discover a way to taint Sora's heart and remove the Amplifier from his arm without damaging it," Vexen reminded instead. "If you do not begin working on your assigned task, we will find another, more compliant servant to do the task."

"And get substandard work!" Hojo replied.

"Thus far," Vexen heartlessly pointed out, "Your projects have all turned out to be uncontrollable failures. You're hardly irreplaceable. Get to work."

Turning away, the Nobody headed out of the room as Hojo stood sputtering.

* * *

_AN: Yay! We found Sora! He's playing Lab Rat with Hojo! Kinky... _

_Next Chapter: The Flying Unicorn Justice League presents - an FF8 recap._


	60. A Stitch in Time

_Chapter 60_

_(A Stitch in Time)_

Morning came, and after sneaking some breakfast for himself and Kaiyou, Riku headed down to the garden, intending to get some fresh air – and well, Kaiyou had told him she was going to take a run after breakfast. He was curious about this and had decided to follow and watch. She hadn't said he couldn't, so he supposed it was alright.

She, however, had gone down to the garden before him, and so, as he got to the balcony-hall overlooking the garden, he was just in time to watch her jog past along the path below. Kaiyou's expression was closed in a light frown as she ran by, not even noticing him.

_'Guess she's in deep thought,'_ Riku supposed.

Leaning on the balustrade with one hip, the silver haired young man folded his arms.

"Don't think that you're not in trouble anymore."

Wincing at the voice, Riku didn't bother turning to face Vincent as his one-armed father came to a stop beside him. "Honestly, what're you going to do to me? Spank me?"

Vincent didn't dignify that sarcastic remark with an answer. He did, however, state, "Sora's twin has returned from the grave, I have heard."

"Yeah. Call her Aros." Riku stated, wishing to retain his status as one of the few who got to call her by her real name. "She'll probably kick your ass if you called her anything else."

Frowning slightly, the man Riku had always thought was just a glorified paper pusher stated, "Watch your mouth."

"I'm seventeen for god's sake," Riku snapped, finally looking towards Vincent. "Isn't it about time you started treating me like an adult?"

"When you act like one," Vincent answered without hesitation or much difference in pitch from how he normally talked, which was in a generally flat and emotionless voice.

Irritated, Riku pushed off the balustrade, dropping his arms to his side. He took a breath to say something he was probably going to regret later, but was interrupted by Yuffie jogging up, "Hey Riku! Vincent! When did you get here?"

"Last night."

Looking towards Riku, she grinned, "So, Vincent really _is_ your dad!"

Riku frowned slightly at her as a stray breeze fluttered his hair. "Riku, when are you going to get this cut?" Vincent lifted his remaining hand and fingered a lock of his son's hair.

"Never if you keep bugging me about it," Riku growled.

"I'll tie you down and shave you if I have to," Vincent threatened right back.

Yuffie sniggered. "You're one to talk. _Your_ hair used to be a mess back four years ago."

_'Now that's odd,'_ Riku noted, but didn't say anything, just flicked his gaze towards his father. _'Four years ago, our world fell into the darkness. Did he get transported to Radiant Garden or something?'_

"Regardless," Vincent stated, "he should make an effort to look respectable. And act responsible. None of this running off from school for a year."

She thumped her hands on her hips, grinning, "Aww, you shouldn't be so tough on him! It's not like he had much of a choice!"

"Getting captured by Heartless isn't my idea of fun," Riku agreed. "It wasn't like I was skipping school to go to the beach."

"I don't like the fact that you're involved in this at all," Vincent replied.

"Well, I wasn't really given much of a choice!" Riku growled, "so lay off."

Yuffie shook her head, "In any case, Mickey's calling a meeting. He sent me to get everyone."

"I'll call Aros," Riku said, then stopped when she put a hand on his arm, "Oh, I see, she wasn't invited." Turning, he shouted, "Aros!" as she was about to run past once more.

Coming to a stop she looked up at him, then noticed the others standing near him. Apparently realizing that he wanted her to join him, Kaiyou paused before jogging to the wall beneath where he was standing, and putting on a burst of speed, ran up the wall. Swinging over the balustrade, she landed directly in front of him and stated, "What?"

"Meeting," he told her.

"Okay."

Looking towards an irritated Yuffie, Riku quirked a brow and smirked at her. Kaiyou turned slightly, looking at the dark haired girl as well. Taking a breath, Yuffie said, "this way." Turning stiffly, she headed off towards the library.

"That was certainly rude," Vincent stated and head on towards the library.

Remaining where she was, Kaiyou frowned slightly, "I'm guessing I wasn't invited?" she asked.

"You bet," Riku replied and started off, but paused when she didn't immediately follow. Looking back, he found her staring at the floor, "You coming?"

Lifting her eyes, she blinked at him, then jogged to catch up. Heading into the library, the pair was just in time to hear Yuffie explaining to Mickey, who sat on his desk once more, "Blame _him_."

"For ensuring that you guys didn't run right over top of her again, like you did last night?" Riku stated, "And continually call her an _it_ like she's got no emotions? Fine, I take full blame." Coming to a stop in the middle of the room, he folded his arms and continued, "She may not exactly be a whole person right now, but she's a person none the less. So regardless of what she's capable of," he turned and stared hard at Squall, "she's _still_ your little sister. Show her more respect."

Squall looked away.

"Thank you, Riku," Laguna stated as he entered, "I _was_ going to say something last night." Putting an arm around Kaiyou's shoulders, he pulled her in further and took a seat in the chairs that remained in the room, pulling her down onto his lap before she could protest.

Kaiyou sat stiffly on his knee, disliking how everything always seemed to be about her.

_'I remember a time,'_ Umi pointed out, _'When you lamented that no one ever seemed to think about you.'_

_'There're limits to how much attention I can take,'_ Kaiyou replied, _'and this is beyond the line and then some.'_

The others in the room settled to seats or stood as they liked, and Kaiyou flicked her gaze around the room from beneath her bangs. Roxas, who was seated on her left, cast a slight smile at her, as if he knew she was looking at him. Riku had flopped across the chair nearest the one she and Laguna were sitting on. Cloud had actually taken a seat this time. Squall was standing still, near Cloud, arms folded. Vincent finally stepped forward and took the chair between Cloud and Riku.

_'Is it me or does it look like everyone's splitting into factions? Those that say I'm a real person and those who want to just use me?'_

_'A little,'_ a different voice answered this time and Kaiyou blinked, lifting her head, Kaiyou looked to her left, meeting Roxas's eyes fully this time. "You think loud," he told her, "but you've got a point."

Laguna blinked, "About what?"

"Nothing," Roxas replied.

"A word, which when said by children, means the opposite," Vincent replied.

Sniggering, the president agreed.

A moment more and Yuffie dropped to a seat next to where Squall was standing. And that was the extent of the people who'd been invited to this meeting, apparently. Kaiyou's lips twitched down, _'What's the point of calling at meeting if you're not going to invite everyone?'_

"Alright," Mickey said, tail flicking behind him, Kaiyou suspected it was in agitation. Or possibly irritation. Probably both. "I wanted to talk about reclaiming Radiant Garden," the king stated, kicking off the meeting. "Any suggestions?"

Kaiyou was sure to keep her mouth shut.

"We can't go for a frontal assault," Cloud said, "There are still innocent people in town." He shook his head slightly, "I hate hostage situations."

"We could try to contact Barrett?" Yuffie suggested.

Lifting his single hand to his chin, Vincent muttered, "Knowing him, he'd just rush in and make a mess of things instead of waiting for us."

Cloud grunted softly.

"I've got bigger guns..." Kaiyou muttered softly.

"What?" Laguna asked, "We need bigger guns you say?"

Blushing, Kaiyou looked down and said nothing more. Roxas, however, spoke up, "I think what she means is that this has turned into a war of who's got the bigger guns. If we try to top Rufus, we'll only put the people we want to protect in further danger."

Riku, picking at a lock of his hair stated, "But last time we were working as smaller groups and lost."

"We were scattered, trying to protect the whole town," Cloud admitted. "Barrett had that going for his strategy, at least. He always had his goal in mind."

Shifting in his seat, Vincent tapped the fingers of his right hand on the arm of his chair, his left arm a stump ending just above where his elbow would have been. He was still dressed in his clothes from the night before and Riku frowned slightly as he gazed at his father. _'He doesn't look any worse for not having me around for a few days - unlike last year.'_

Tail flicking again, Mickey hopped off his desk and began to pace even as Vincent spoke up, "What about Nanaki?"

"No one's seen him since..." Cloud stopped as he accidentally met Riku's gaze, "Geostigma," he finished finally. "But I suspect he's gone back to Cosmo Canyon."

"If you can get in contact with him, he could scout," Vincent replied.

"Unless he was turned into a Heartless," Riku added, "There've been plenty of chances for that to happen."

"Cait Sith is around," Cloud stated.

"I'd rather try Nanaki first," Vincent blandly replied, apparently refusing to consider the idea of his friend being a Heartless. Cloud nodded, apparently agreeing, though maybe for some other reason.

Glancing aside, Cloud added, "Or you could."

Vincent frowned slightly, shifting uncomfortably in his chair, "I haven't done that kind of work in..." he paused.

Riku frowned as well, beginning to think that there was something incredibly odd about all this.

"You know," Yuffie said, speaking up finally, "How long _have_ you been living in Destiny Islands?"

The conversation ground to a screeching halt as Vincent's expression finally changed, to one of severe confusion.

"...twenty years."

Kaiyou lifted her head slightly after another moment of silence and admitted, "I've noticed there's been people out of place and time all throughout the worlds," she paused, having been about to cite examples, except not everyone in the room would have known the people she was talking about.

"Like Tidus, Lulu, and Wakka," Riku agreed, supplying names for her, "Yuna says _she_ knows them and that they grew up in Besaid with her. Yet, I don't recall ever knowing a Yuna before, and I know Wakka and Tidus have never left Destiny Islands. Lulu moved there shortly before Kairi appeared."

Squall frowned, folding his arms and shifting his weight, looking down at the floor. Laguna, however, was not going to let his son remain in silence, "Squall..."

"Perhaps..." the other man said slowly, "But if it is the cause it would mean Ultimecia is to blame for a much bigger mess than we first thought."

Mickey, who'd stopped pacing, turned to face Squall and asked, "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Squall said, "That events in my world have had an effect on Time throughout the universe. People with two childhoods on completely different worlds and memories from both..."

Kaiyou frowned, "And it happened four years ago?" she prompted.

"Yes," Squall admitted, "Shortly before my world fell into the Darkness." Riku studiously avoided meeting anyone's eyes.

"Why don't you tell us what happened?" Yuffie suggested eagerly, bouncing in her seat.

Taking a breath, Squall finally dropped into a seat, looking, to Kaiyou, broken. _'Great, now I'm gonna feel sorry for him, too, even though he's a real asshole towards me,'_ she thought sourly.

"It started with my graduation from SeeD - a military organization on my world. The same world Esthar is on, Destiny Islands is on the coast of Esthar," Squall explained, leaning forward to put his elbows on his knees, hands clasped together. "Not long after being accepted into SeeD and given a rank, I was put on my first mission - to contact and assist in any way the terrorist group Forrest Owls. My team, composed of Zell Dincht, Selphie Tilmitt."

Riku sat up, "Wait - _Selphie_? A SeeD? What a joke!" he burst out laughing.

"Give her nunchakus and she can probably kick your ass," Squall retorted, "She's probably been going easy on you. How old is she now?"

"Sixteen," Riku replied.

"So she got caught by it too," Squall sighed. "At least she got the chance to have a real family."

Kaiyou winced slightly. _'So, he's not had much of a family either. But that still doesn't give him the right to call me an It!'_

Shaking his head and getting on with things, Squall stated, "We went to Timber to meet the terrorists and got our orders. Were to kidnap the dictator of Galbadia, Vinzer Deling, but when we moved in for the strike, we found that our target had been switched with a body double and were forced to retreat to Timber. That's where we found that Vinzer had already reached Timber and was using the TV Station there to make a worldwide broadcast." Mickey, apparently sensing that this might take a while, hopped back up onto his desk and took a seat there. Kaiyou glanced at the king, figuring that he was glad that the conversation had taken this turn.

_'He doesn't want me involved, after all...'_

"That was when Seifer showed up and tried to kill Vinzer," Squall stated.

"Seifer is now in Twilight town," Roxas put in, "With Rai and Fuu."

"Ha," Squall snorted, "Figures those three would end up together, wherever they ended up."

"They're probably seventeen now," Roxas replied, then snorted with a slight smirk, "No _wonder_ he hated me so much! I reminded him of _you_."

With a slight shrug, Squall replied, "Probably. He and I were ...rivals," he touched the scar on his forehead with a slight smirk. "Gave me this, but he got one in return."

"Always wondered where that came from," Roxas admitted, "_I_ certainly didn't give it to him." He shook his head slightly and sighed. _'Then again, I only knew him in an alternate version of that world. For all I know, the REAL Hayner gave it to him.'_

_'Have you not tried to talk to the real versions of them?'_ Kaiyou asked Roxas, having overheard his thought.

Roxas lifted his head and looked at her, _'No. I...don't want to bother them.'_

Lips pulling down slightly, Kaiyou dropped her gaze to the floor again as Laguna shifted beneath her, pulling her back against his chest, arms going around her. "Talking to your brother?" Laguna whispered do her with a slight smile.

"The half that's here," Kaiyou admitted. "Proximity makes up for the diluted link."

Meanwhile, Squall had move on, "Seifer had apparently left the Garden to kill Vinzer, without any orders to do so. My team was ordered to the station to restrain Seifer - but then we were attacked by Vinzer's new ally; the Sorceress Edea."

Riku interrupted again, "Wait, you mean Matron Edea? The woman Sora lives with?"

Looking towards Laguna, Squall raised his brows. "Yeah. The same woman," Laguna admitted. "She only took that power to protect you kids from it, and after Ultimecia was destroyed, she was fine."

Squall snorted softly and sat back in his chair, hands on his knees still, "In any case, we tried to complete our mission once more, this time in Deling City during a parade. Again, we failed to kill Vinzer, found that Seifer had joined the Sorceress, and were captured." Pausing for a long moment, Squall took a breath and continued, "we fought our way out of prison and-"

"Wait," Laguna stated, "I notice you saying 'we' a lot, but who are you referring to?"

"Myself, Quistis, Selphie, Zell, and Irvine."

Laguna frowned slightly, "And Rinoa."

Strained silence fell as Squall stared at his father, then stated stiffly, "It doesn't matter."

"She's important to this story, regardless," Laguna replied.

_'Important to Squall too,'_ Kaiyou realized, and spoke up, "Dad, quit it," she told Laguna, "Let him tell things the way he thinks is best."

Apparently surprised by Kaiyou's defense of him, Squall sat surprised for a moment, and when Laguna sighed and said nothing more, the ex-SeeD continued. "We split into two groups after escaping prison; one to warn Balamb Garden - our base - that Galbadia was firing missiles at them. The other went to Galbadia's Missile Base to try and stop the missiles from firing." Shaking his head, Squall summarized, "We saved Balamb, but eventually had to return to Galbadia, where we met with Seifer and Edea again." Squall again stopped and frowned slightly, "we lost, but weren't killed..."

Laguna, unable to put up with this blatant glossing over of events, spoke up again, "And you forgot to mention Ellone."

Bristling at Laguna's repeated intrusions, Squall stated, "Either tell it yourself or shut up."

Kaiyou prodded Laguna in the side, making him squirm, "I suggest shutting up," she told him.

"Ellone is Sora's mother, currently the president of Esthar," Riku put in, "But what's she got to do with this?"

Glowering at Laguna, Squall continued, "Everyone I mentioned so far, except Rinoa, grew up in the same orphanage under Matron Edea. We considered Ellone our elder sister. We, however, didn't remember that after we left the orphanage. This was Ellone's doing. She has powers of Memory Manipulation."

"That make sense," Mickey said, speaking up for the first time in a while, "After what happened a year ago with everyone who knew Sora."

Roxas nodded, "That was caused by Namine's taking apart Sora's memories, but the ripple effect that action had was, I guess, due to Sora's own inherited influence over memories."

Kaiyou frowned, _'And my own issues with remembering things.'_

_'Except you do it to yourself,'_ Umi replied.

Roxas spoke up, apparently having heard Kaiyou's conversation with herself, _'Sora and I can remember having a sister, but Sora still can't remember exactly what he said to you the day you disappeared.'_

She frowned slightly. _'I don't think that'll come back until I get the rest of my memories back,'_ she admitted to Roxas.

Squall, having regained control of his irritation, continued, "After the fight with the Sorceress Edea, Edea was returned to herself, but the one who'd been controlling her had taken her in order to try and return to the body Laguna had imprisoned years ago. Rinoa..." Squall finally said and sighed, "Was unconscious after the battle, and unable to awaken her, our group split into two teams again. One went to the Lunar Gate to get help for Rinoa, the other went to Esthar to stop a moving object called Lunatic Pandora, which was heading for the Sorceress Memorial. Rinoa, meanwhile, woke up, but she was being controlled by the Sorceress Adel, and escaped to where Adel's body was held freed her."

"A mistake," Laguna sighed, "I should have done something a little more permanent to the bloody thing. Perhaps Allison's idea of burning Witches wasn't so bad after all?" He looked down at Kaiyou with a slight grin, "I put a spell on you..." he sang at her.

Kaiyou, blushing, hid her face against his shoulder and snorted.

Shaking his head, Squall stated, "Adel, Edea, Rinoa - it didn't really matter what you did to their bodies. Ultimecia would have found another body to take control of. In any case, we regrouped in Lunatic Pandora and faced Adel, and after defeating her, we were pulled into Ultimecia's realm, which existed outside of time, where she started to compress time to return it to the absolute point of creation." Squall sighed, blue eyes looking at the floor as he finished, "we defeated Ultimecia, but were lost in time - I'm not sure for how long I wandered but after making it back to our world, Rinoa and I were just in time for the Heartless to attack."

"You did your best," Laguna told Squall.

"That doesn't change the fact that she died!" Squall snapped and got to his feet, "and I failed her." Turning, he headed for the door, slammed it open, and slammed it shut behind him.

Sitting up, Kaiyou looked at Laguna and told him, "Sometimes, I'm surprised no one's tried to gut you. You have a point, but I don't think it's possible to be any more insensitive."

Getting to her feet as well, Kaiyou looked at Roxas, quirking a brow at him. _'Coming?'_

_'Yeah. I think this meeting is over,'_ Roxas admitted and got to his feet, following after Kaiyou as she headed for the door. Outside, he said, "I'll introduce you to Kairi and Namine."

* * *

Kaiyou wasn't very keen on this idea, but with Roxas holding her hand, she was somehow able to stand there and be introduced to the redheaded girl her Body liked to hang out with. "Aros, this is Kairi and Namine." They'd found Kairi and Kosuiko in the gardens in a grassy alcove with a small table set up with their breakfast on it. Koko was still drinking her tea and watching the scene with blank eyes. She looked so much like a lifeless doll that Kaiyou had difficulty meeting those eyes. Store mannequins had always unnerved her with their distant staring. 

Blinking, Kaiyou pulled her eyes back to Kairi-Namine, not quite understanding how she could be two in one. _'Maybe I misunderstood?'_

"No, I said what I meant," Roxas replied, having heard her thought.

Kairi laughed softly, and between one blink and the next, a blonde with brilliant blue eyes in a white dress was standing where Kairi had been, "It's nice to meet you, Aros," Namine said for herself, placing the tips of her fingers together as she tipped her head. "I'm Kairi's Nobody."

"oh," Kaiyou said in a small voice. This was just too weird. Taking a breath, she only just managed to stop herself from commenting that it must be strange having another entity talking to you in your head. _'I've got a large multitude of voices in MY head.'_

Roxas snorted.

And then, Kairi returned, "We could probably do the same thing that Sora and Roxas have done, but, we really don't see a reason at this point in time."

_'Wish she would, it'd make things easier for ME.'_

Glancing over at Roxas at his thought, Kaiyou couldn't help but smile slightly, _'You like Namine,'_ she guessed, _'And Sora likes Kairi. But you want to wander around with your own feet too.'_

Blushing slightly Roxas looked away briefly and said, "I'm going to see if I can track Squall down," he said. _'And you nag Riku about butting into other people's crushes,'_ he accused.

As he dropped her hand and fled, Kaiyou sniggered and called after him, "Never said I wasn't a hypocrite!"

"What?" Kairi asked as Kaiyou turned back around to face her.

"Teasing him," Kaiyou admitted, "If he didn't blush so easy, it wouldn't be so fun."

Namine smiled in a way that implied that she knew exactly what Kaiyou was talking about. Whereas Kairi, when her face returned, looked confused still. "I think we have enough breakfast for you, too," she offered, gesturing back towards the table.

"I already ate," Kaiyou replied and eyed Kosuiko. "Tea would be nice though," she added and followed Kairi over to the table, taking one of the four seats that were set around it.

Settling back into the chair she'd been in before Roxas had interrupted her breakfast, Kairi poured some tea for Kaiyou and passed the cup to her. "Sorry about not inviting you to join us last night, but ...we figured you would be needed for the other half of the meeting."

Kaiyou looked down at her tea, gazing at her reflection on the surface of the dark liquid, "They didn't need me. At least not for that."

Lifting her eyes just in time to see Namine reappear, Kaiyou blinked once and decided that this was going to take some getting used to. Namine said, "Yeah, they do that to us too. Saying we're important, then locking us away somewhere and not telling us anything about what's going on."

"Exactly," Kaiyou agreed, "...it really sucks to be called an object when you're in the room looking at the guy. Sure, he's got some problems, but that's no reason to be so... mean." She sighed, "At least Riku yelled at them about it."

Raising her brows, Kairi asked, "Riku? What'd he say?"

"He told Squall to be more respectful towards me and the rest of them that I've still got a mind of my own, even if I am the Amplifier." Kaiyou admitted, after all, this was all information Kairi could get from anyone else who'd been present... even if it embarrassed her slightly to be saying it herself.

Kairi laughed softly behind her hand, "I think he's taken a liking to you."

Shaking her head emphatically, Kaiyou denied that statement, "No. He and I don't like each other. He's a jerk." She ducked her head slightly in an effort to hide her blush behind her bangs.

The silence to Kaiyou's right was suspicious, but she couldn't look at Kairi because to do so would reveal what she was trying to hide. _'On the other hand, my not looking at her is probably proof enough. Damned if I do and damned if I don't.'_

Koko set her teacup down and put her hands to her chest, head tipping to the side slightly, "I feel warm," she announced.

Looking towards her Body, Kaiyou frowned at Koko. _'Kinda idiotic, isn't she?'_ Kaiyou asked her Soul.

Umi snorted softly, _'She only breathes because she's still alive. The physical sensations she feels are all she has.'_

_'Can't you... inhabit her?'_ Kaiyou asked, but Umi didn't answer and she was forced to look back towards Kairi-Namine for entertainment. "So... what's your story?" Kaiyou asked, wishing to get the other girl talking so Kaiyou didn't have to.

* * *

"The problem..." Reno said as he walked a step behind Rufus, "With working with these dopes, is that they're all probably thinking the same thing." 

Rufus snorted, "If you mean: killing Xemnas and Maleficent and taking Kingdom Hearts for themselves...then you're probably right." The heir of Shinra, however, didn't sound the least bit concerned over this. "That, however, isn't possible until Kingdom Hearts is opened," he pointed out, "Which requires our brief cooperation. And then... it will be a free-for-all. It will be survival of the fittest, and those who didn't begin fortifying their positions before this event will be the first to die."

Despite the fact that they were walking down the hall towards Hojo's laboratory, Rufus spoke without fear of being overheard. After all, what did it matter if anyone overheard him talking about something so obvious? Reno smirked at his boss's wicked thoughts, amused by the darkness in Rufus's heart, just as he was jealous of it. He yearned to reach into Rufus's back and rip that pulsing darkness from his boss's grasp, but fear of failure stopped him. Rufus was beyond his abilities to take on. Frustrated, all Reno could do was follow Rufus, basking in the shadows cast by the Prince of Darkness.

Reaching the door of Hojo's lab, Reno stepped forward and opened it for his boss, then stepped in behind, jade green eyes casting around the lab. It was exactly as he'd seen last - when he'd escorted Rude, who'd been carrying the unconscious body of Sora Loire. Well, except that Sora was now floating in a tank of Mako, fully clothed still, wounds healed by the power of the Lifestream. Hojo was standing by his books, looking through a tome, occasionally flipping a page or pushing his glasses up his nose with a middle finger. The scientist didn't look up as Rufus entered.

Flicking a hand through his hair, the President of Shinra strode over, "Hojo," he greeted.

Finally looking up from his reading, the scientist blinked his beady black eyes at his boss, "Rufus," he greeted in return.

"What progress have you made?" Rufus asked blandly.

"When I'm not being bothered by those damn Nobodies," Hojo stated, "I have discovered two things. First, the boy's heart isn't complete - it's taken off somewhere else, along with half his soul. He's created two of himself, and I suspect it was willingly." Rufus folded his arms as he listened to this. "Second," Hojo continued, "the object on his arm, the Amplifier, is actually a piece of another heart. It has a connection to the boy and short of removing his arm, there is no way to get it off."

Idly striding across the room, Rufus stopped in front of the cylindrical tank Sora floated in, even as he addressed Hojo, "I see. So you've begun the process to make him into a SOLDIER so we can control him?"

Hojo nodded, "I've concealed that information from Xemnas as you requested." The scientist came to stand beside Rufus as he looked up at Sora, "Basing my work on this boy off the results from Cloud Strife and Riku Valentine, I believe I've discovered a way to chain his heart, allowing us to call him back whenever we choose."

"Very good," Rufus smiled coldly.

"When will you be delivering the Cetra?" Hojo asked this time. "My other projects require her."

Rufus's smile stretched to a smirk, which he turned on Hojo, "I want you to concentrate on this project, Hojo. Once you complete your work, then you will be given the Cetra."

Angry, but unable to do anything to Rufus, Hojo could only watch as Rufus turned, heading for the door, "Continue your work, Hojo, and do not let anyone else know its true purpose."

Heading out through the door, Rufus turned to look at Reno as the redhead closed the door behind them. "It's about time for Xemnas's meeting, is it not?" the Prince remarked, to which Reno nodded.

Opening a portal of Darkness, Rufus stepped through, Reno following.

Reappearing on the topmost balcony of the Castle that Never Was, Rufus looked around, finding that, despite his side errand, he was still the first Prince to arrive. Xemnas as already present, but then again, he never left his realm of twilight. Another portal of Darkness opened a short distance away, from it, Sephiroth stepped, Masamune clipped to his back, hung from hooks off his shoulder guards. Turning slightly, the silver haired warrior sneered at Rufus, hatred in his blue-green eyes.

That man, Rufus suspected, would be his biggest rival in the next stage of the game. Sephiroth had ways of controlling people, making mindless puppets out of them. He had his Clones to act as generals in an army he could raise any moment. There were plenty of children fathered by members of SOLDIER lurking in the alleys and streets of Radiant Garden. Guided by parasitic urges, Sephiroth was determined to fulfill Jenova's will, and Radiant Garden was the world she desired to destroy first.

As another portal opened and out stepped a man with blue hair that rivaled Sephiroth's gravity defiant bangs. "Seymour Guado," Reno supplied for Rufus, having investigated the other Princes by Rufus's order. "A dead man that wasn't sent to hell, or wherever the Summoners of Spira send the souls of the murdered. He's got control over the spirits of the dead and can call monsters. He believes everyone is a sinner and wants to become an Aeon called Sin so he can destroy all life and end the suffering of life."

Rufus snorted, "What a waste."

Reno really didn't have an opinion on the subject. The man was evil, but not the same brand of Evil that Rufus was. Some distance away, closer to Xemnas, another portal opened. From it stepped a young blonde man with blue eyes. He looked around, scowling slightly at the others. "Shuyin," Reno whispered, "Another Dead from Spira. He lost his love, a Summoner, due to war. Apparently, he wants to use Kingdom Hearts as a Doomsday weapon and stop all war forever."

"Misguided," was Rufus's opinion.

Snorting, Reno shrugged and glanced towards the next portal to open, watching as another Prince stepped out. "Is that a woman?" Rufus asked.

"No, that's Kuja. I think he's confused," Reno replied with a snigger as he looked at the man wearing a combination thong-skirt and armored bolero and not much else. "I'm not sure what his motives are, he wouldn't talk to me," Reno admitted, "But after a bit of investigation, I found that he's really just afraid of everything and wants to destroy what he's afraid of."

"Idiot," Rufus stated.

A sixth portal opened and closed behind the brightly dressed figure of a blonde man with a white painted face, eyes rimmed by red. "Kefka Palazzo," Reno supplied for his Boss's benefit, "a true madman. He has no plans for conquering, just a desire for random destruction." Reno shivered.

"...Dangerous, but not likely to cause me any immediate problems," Rufus replied.

Finally, the seventh portal opened, from which Gary stepped, his long black hair and white coat floating behind him. He was smirking in a way that suggested he'd been up to something and was rather proud of himself. "Gary," Reno stated, "an orphan from New York, enjoys toying with women and breaking their hearts, leaving pain and suffering in his wake."

"Petty little upstart," Rufus stated under his breath, "though perhaps I can gain his loyalty. He might make a good general of my army."

Xemnas turned as the last Prince appeared, eyeing Gary, "What have you done with Larxene?" he demanded.

Grinning, Gary lifted his hands in a shrug, "Perhaps I ate her?"

Kefka giggled.

Irritated, Xemnas turned away, "It hardly matters," he said heartlessly and turned to face the large glowing heart-shaped moon, and lifting his hands up towards it he spoke, "Gentlemen! Behold, Kingdom Hearts! Completed courtesy of our young Keyblade Masters..." Turning towards the Princes of Darkness, he addressed them, "This is a project we of the Organization and Maleficent have begun as a means to gain control of the power of Kingdom Hearts - a project of which you will be an integral part of. Kingdom Hearts, however, cannot be used in this state, for was locked by those blasted Keyblade Masters. There are three ways to open it," Xemnas stated, "First, by use of the Keyblades themselves, and while that would be preferable, it is unlikely that we will be able to manipulate even one of those brats into opening it for us. Second, is by using the Princesses of Light. That, however, recreates Kingdom Hearts as a center of Light. So our third option... is you."

Lifting one of his slightly abnormally long arms to gesture at the moon-like object above them, Seymour interpreted, "So, you're saying that if _we_ open Kingdom Hearts, it will open onto Darkness rather than Light?" His voice was smooth and even, unassuming, perhaps even confidence-inspiring.

Xemnas nodded, "Exactly."

"What of the Amplifier?" Sephiroth asked and by the expressions on a few other faces in the circle of eight, not everyone knew about this additional prize. Rufus silently cursed Sephiroth. Now the playing field had gotten wider.

Whether Xemnas was irritated by this subject change or not, the Nobody's expression didn't indicate. Instead, he answered the question, "Will be acquired later. For now, it is not necessary."

Controlling his expression was an exercise of will Rufus had no choice but to put himself through, for now that the subject had been brought up, the other Princes would look for information about it. Sephiroth glanced over and smirked ever so slightly and Rufus knew without a doubt that while Sephiroth didn't give a damn one way or the other about who had the Amplifier, he wasn't going to make Rufus's goals easy to obtain.

Deciding that he was going to kill Sephiroth as soon as possible, Rufus turned his attention back to Xemnas, hoping that the pontificating idiot would get on with it.

Thankfully, the next words out of Xemnas's mouth were, "Now, we will open Kingdom Hearts as an entity of Darkness!" Lifting his hands over his head, he called, "Open your hearts of Darkness and with the power that resides in you, break the lock on Kingdom Hearts!"

Stepping away from Reno, Rufus narrowed his eyes slightly as his darkness began to color the air around him like ink in water. Around him, the circle of Princes began to do the same, willing to work together at least this once for the chance at ultimate power.

Reno reached out carefully, snatching bits of Rufus's darkness, hungry for a deeper taste. Alas, fear kept him from interfering in the proceedings and he was forced to content himself with just this little taste of Ultimate Darkness.

* * *

"I'm kinda jealous," Kaiyou stated, feet swaying in the air behind her as she picked a blade of grass. Kairi looked over, lifting her brows. They were still in the garden, having taken lunch out there. She'd not seen any of the others since that morning and suspected they were up to something. However, the day was too nice and she was actually enjoying Kairi's company. It was nice to give in and be a little girly. 

"Of what?" Kairi asked.

Kosuiko, watching Kaiyou, selected a blade of grass as well as Kaiyou replied, "Yuna's got her Gullwings, Sora's got Goofy and Donald, and Roxas has Axel... I've never had a club."

Kairi giggled, "Well, I've got Riku and Sora, but sometimes I don't quite understand them. It'd be nice to have a girlfriend who understands what it's like..."

Turning to look at Kairi, Kaiyou pursed her lips, "Honestly never had girlfriends, period..."

Grinning, Kairi replied, "Let's be friends then."

Toying with the blade of grass she'd selected, Kosuiko watched the other two and asked, "Me too?"

"Of course," Kairi replied. Kaiyou eyed Koko.

"We should have a name too," Kosuiko suggested, smiling happily.

Lifting her eyes towards the sky, Kaiyou placed the blade of grass she'd picked between her thumbs, then blew on it, making it emit a squealing noise.

Kosuiko gaped at Kaiyou. "How'd you do that?"

"Like this," she replied, showing Koko how to put the grass between her thumbs and make it whistle.

Amused by the new skill she'd learned, Koko was successfully distracted enough to ignore Kaiyou and Kairi's conversation. "She's right," Kairi said, "We _should_ have a name. Like Yuna has the Gullwings."

"I dunno," Kaiyou mused, "Does it really count if I'm in the club twice?" She looked at Koko, "then again, she's not too bright..."

Kairi pressed her lips together, "You shouldn't be so mean to her. And aren't I in the club twice too? Or is Namine not invited?"

Pouting a little, Kaiyou replied, "But she's me. I can't be mean to myself? And of course Namine's invited."

"I don't think she quite counts as you. Like Roxas isn't really Sora, and Namine really isn't me," Kairi objected, though she was smiling, eyes sparkling with amusement.

Falling silent, Kaiyou pondered that. "I guess." She looked over at Koko. "I like Umi better, though. But she doesn't have a physical manifestation."

"Umi?" Koko looked towards them.

"I know, let's be called the Flying Unicorn Justice League," Kaiyou suggested facetiously. "I'll be the Black Dragon. Kairi can be the Red Phoenix, Namine the Golden Gryphon... Koko can be ...uh."

"The Blue Serpent!" Koko chimed in then added, "And Demyx will be the White Swan!"

Kaiyou blinked, then snorted in laughter. Koko blinked right back at her. "Alright, Demyx can be in the club, but _only_ if he's the White Swan." Kairi giggled.

"What's so funny?"

Looking back at the break in the hedges that blocked the girls from the rest of the garden, Kaiyou smiled slightly as she found Riku standing there. Stepping closer, he dropped down to a seat beside Kairi, since Kaiyou was braced by her Body and the Princess of Light and to sit next to her would have made his intentions far too obvious.

"Making a girl's only club," Kairi added.

"But why's Demyx allowed in it?" Riku asked, pointing out the flaw with a flick of his fingers as he crossed his legs Indian style.

Kaiyou snorted, "Because we're making fun of him. Besides, you wouldn't want to be in this club anyway."

Riku snorted, "Oh yeah? You're sure of that?"

"Yep," Kairi giggled. "It's called the Flying Unicorn Justice League."

Cringing, Riku replied, "Yeah. Okay, you can count me out of that one. I almost feel sorry for Demyx now."

"Hey!" Koko said, "Look what I can do!" she announced and blew her grass-whistle.

"Easily amused," Kaiyou stated, "though I suppose that sometimes that can be a blessing."

"She acts more like your father than you do, that's for sure," Riku pointed out.

Snorting, Kaiyou stated, "Not sure if you're trying to insult me or not." Kairi giggled softly, ducking her head down so as to avoid Riku's questioning gaze. "Anyway," Kaiyou continued, "Were there more meetings to which we weren't invited?"

Sighing as he settled back on his hands, "Yeah, actually," his expression turned decidedly sour and Kaiyou suspected that he was upset about something but wasn't going to say what. "They sent my dad to sneak into Radiant Garden and get information. Apparently... he used to be a Turk at some point in his time-screwed life." He closed his mouth and looked up at the sky, the breeze that had been blowing lightly all day played in his hair.

_'He's not going to say anything more with Kairi here,'_ Kaiyou realized, _'he hides a lot even from his friends... so why DID he talk to me last night?'_

Umi had no answer to that question. However, further distraction came in the form of Roxas, who dropped to a seat next to Kosuiko. "What's up?" he asked, which inspired a retelling of the creation of their Girl's Only plus Demyx group.

From there, the topic moved on to other less sensitive issues, like the school Riku, Kairi, and Roxas attended in Destiny Island and how they were going to be behind in schoolwork _again_.

"Well, Sora's going to have to do his own homework!" Roxas stated, "It's my policy to not do anything for him." Looking towards Kaiyou, he smiled, "I'll be busy tutoring you, anyway."

Blushing, she ducked her head and picked at the grass, weaving strips of it into a little chain.

_'It's nice to know that I'll have a place after all this mess is finally over, at least...'_ she admitted to Umi, though she suspected Roxas had overheard her comment, even if he didn't say anything.

* * *

_AN: Thanks to Misaryn for the writeup of the FF8 plotline! Couldn't have done it without you!_

_Next Chapter: Everyone's wielding stones! The innocent are doomed!_


	61. Rocks and Water

_Chapter 61_

_(Rocks and Water)_

It had been four days since the battle at Radiant Garden where they'd lost Sora. They'd been quiet days for the most part, or so Kaiyou thought. Especially yesterday. Kaiyou had spent most of the day hiding in her room or lurking on the balcony she had followed Riku to the first night they'd been there. She was sure they'd called more meetings – to which she'd not been invited – but Kaiyou also figured that she probably really wasn't needed for those meetings. They were likely going over tactics and strategy for protecting Disney Castle. The results of those meetings were quite evident to Kaiyou as she watched from her bedroom balcony. Goofy had been working with his knights, making a rotating guard on the walls. Donald was probably just as busy, though Kaiyou hadn't actually seen him around.

In her wanderings of the quiet day, Kaiyou had discovered a guitar left in a music hall. It didn't appear to be anyone's in specific, and it also was quite out of tune. So, she'd taken it off to her room to pick at. It wasn't like she was really any good at the guitar, but it was better than being bored in silence.

Although, she could have entertained herself with the company of others, Kaiyou felt that she'd been an awful burden on them all of late. Riku kept trying to go out of his way to make sure she wasn't talked over, Roxas was always paying more attention to her than she thought necessary, and Kairi was just far too nice for Kaiyou's comfort. Laguna had taken to cuddling Kosuiko a lot, even when Kaiyou was in the room, but that may have been because Koko wouldn't get off him. Kaiyou pretended not to care. After all, Koko was her, in a way.

So there she was, by herself, on her balcony, plucking at the guitar she'd found, irritated that it kept going out of tune, no matter how much she messed with it. "Maybe this is why it was forgotten?" she muttered to Umi. Her Soul had no comment and remained silent. That, too, was fine with Kaiyou. She'd begun to feel very off-balanced by all this fuss over her, and so the quiet was nice.

Closing her eyes, she let her hands go limp on the guitar, having tired of trying to tune it and keep it tuned, Kaiyou listened to the wind and the sound of distant voices far below. Perhaps she would go see if there was anything she could swipe from the kitchens as an afternoon snack? She'd not eaten much at lunch due to the fact that everyone had been there and they'd still been talking business.

_'Sora? Sora can you hear me?'_ she called as loudly as she could.

_'?...Kaiyou?'_ The voice was very faint, distant sounding.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Kaiyou grabbed at the link, bringing it into sharper focus. _'Sora?'_

_'No. It's me, Roxas...'_ indeed. That wasn't Sora's voice at all.

Disappointment flooded her and she let the link go. Getting up from the balcony, she headed inside and sat down on her bed, then flopped over, the guitar on the quilt beside her.

* * *

"So you're leaving." 

Turning, Vincent peered over his shoulder at Riku, his expression partially hidden by the collar of the red cloak he wore, red eyes focusing on Riku between the strands of his chin-length black hair, which was tied down in a weird arrangement by a long crimson ribbon. The man found his son standing with his arms crossed, leaning against the doorframe to the room Vincent had used for the night, staring at the floor. Beyond, the hallway was empty and silent.

It had been firmly decided that Vincent would be the one going to Radiant Garden to spy, using the same innate abilities he'd used to get to Disney Castle, so that he wouldn't leave a ship for the enemy to find. Riku was still a little stunned to find out that his one-armed father had some sort of sixth sense when it came to his son, which was how he'd tracked Riku down to Disney Castle. He was still unnerved by the news that his father wasn't normal – though how abnormal Vincent was, hadn't come out in any of the meetings. It was almost like Vincent didn't want Riku to know.

Straightening from pulling on a shoe and buckling it with his single hand, Vincent turned to face Riku, moth-eaten crimson cloak floating around his form, obscuring much of his body from view. "Yes," Vincent stated, answering Riku's rather obvious question.

Frowning slightly, Riku replied, "In that ratty thing? They'd smell you coming from a mile away." He wrinkled his nose, senses affronted by the scent of dust clinging to the old crushed velvet cloak that hung from Vincent's shoulders and was buckled on the front. Though he knew well enough that his sense of smell was a lot more developed than any normal person's, and under the scent of dust, he could smell polished metal, oil, gunpowder, and very old blood. It was a surprising set of smells for Riku's father to have clinging to his clothes. For as long as he'd known his father, Vincent had only had one hand and had worked in an office as a bureaucrat, helping to run a government agency on the mainland. It was a hell of a commute, but it paid well.

Stalking closer to his son, Vincent stopped next to Riku and waited for him to lift his eyes, "I may not have practiced in twenty years, Riku, but I am still good at what I do. Don't underestimate me."

Blue eyes still focused firmly on red, Riku mocked, "Mister _I can't get the peanut butter jar open, help me Riku?_"

Vincent said nothing for a long moment, but Riku could tell he was angry - the type of angry that had always resulted in Riku getting a proper swatting. When he moved, Riku couldn't help but wince away, then stopped as he realized that the wrong arm had moved. Taking hold of the front of Riku's jacket with glimmering brass claws of a left hand Riku had never seen, Vincent leaned in and stared Riku down for a long moment before finally releasing him. Turning with a flick of his cloak, Vincent stalked off down the hall as Riku stared after him.

_'...He DOESN'T need me,'_ Riku realized slowly as the shock of those cold metal digits brushing against his neck faded. Vincent had apparently had access to a left hand all along – he'd just decided to not use it! _'He never really needed me. In the end, I really was just a burden to him.'_ Collapsing back against the door frame again, he slowly slid down to sit on the floor, knees pressed against his chest.

* * *

Rufus was mad. 

No, not just mad. He was furious.

And the fact that Sephiroth was in his office smirking at him was only making him wish he could just pull his shotgun and shoot the bastard in the face. However, such a move likely wouldn't hit Sephiroth and would only make the ex-General attack. So, instead, Rufus remained at his desk, expression impassive as the two of them stared at each other.

Sephiroth's shoulders shrugged slightly as he snorted in amusement.

"You think it's funny?" Rufus said finally. "Now your goals will be just as difficult to achieve."

Tipping his head slightly, Sephiroth turned and started pacing around the room, looking at the bookshelves, the walls, the paintings on them – the big diagram Ansem had written in chalk depicting the DTD on the wall. "Perhaps, and perhaps not."

"What do you mean?" Rufus demanded.

"I mean," Sephiroth replied, "That perhaps I don't want the Amplifier... Perhaps I just want you to die trying to get it?"

Placing his hands on the desk, Rufus pushed himself to his feet, blue eyes narrowing.

However, before Rufus could say anything, Sephiroth turned, walking into his portal of darkness and disappeared – just as Reno stepped in through the door. "Woah!" the redhead stopped and blinked.

"Where have you been?" Rufus demanded, furious, and taking it out on his subordinate.

Reno lifted his hands in a shrug, "Looking for the Amplifier, like you told me to?"

At least... even if all the other Princes knew about the Amplifier now, at least they didn't have the same sorts of minions that Rufus did. Taking a seat once more, Rufus smiled slightly, "And?"

"And apparently..." Reno winced slightly, "It's broken."

Eyes widening, Rufus sat forward, slapping his palms on the desk top once more, "What do you mean? Will not even the pieces of it work?"

Reno folded his arms, "Sora's got part of it on his arm, that Kosuiko girl is part of it, and there's another part running around... that girl I took the Mako weapon book from. While she's the biggest shard of the Amplifier, she's still not complete."

"How did you find all this out?" Rufus demanded.

Offended, Reno turned his back on his boss, "Hey now! You're not supposed to ask a Turk their sources – but if you must know... I asked Gary."

Rufus's silence was ominous, and Reno looked back over his shoulder to find his boss's expression very dark. Hurrying to cover his ass, Reno went on, "He's been playing Xemnas and Maleficent off each other for some time now, and apparently grew up with the girl, so he's really the only one who knew anything concrete about the Amplifier!"

"But if he freely told you," Rufus pointed out, "will he tell the others as well?"

"Of course not!" a new voice announced, echoing oddly in the room.

Turning towards the portal that had just opened, Rufus scowled as the black haired young man stepped out. "I gave Reno that information," Gary continued, "As a show of faith. Rufus Shinra – I've heard quite a bit about you, and I'm ...humbled by your genius and wish to serve you." Slowly, Gary bowed, his long tail of hair falling forward over his shoulder as he did.

Rufus wasn't convinced by this show, but as the saying went _'Keep your friends close, your enemies closer...'_ Smiling and sitting back, Rufus remained silent as Gary straightened, blue eyes wide as he gazed at the President of Shinra.

"That is...if you'll have me," Gary added, looking unsure. "I know I'm young, but I'm willing to learn and do whatever tasks you assign me."

"Is that so?" Rufus mused, briefly toying with the idea of putting the boy on janitorial work. Alas, he couldn't do that. "Alright," he said finally. "I believe I have a position open..."

* * *

Tapping his foot in slight irritation, the blue-eyed black-haired man folded his arms, "So let me get this straight..." He was standing in a small room with two other men dressed in dark blue suits. There was a table in the center of the room, set between him and the two other men. The walls were metal and rusting, the room located in the bowls of a destroyed city that was, while not lived in, would never be forgotten, nor the events that had happened there. 

"What's to not understand?" replied the second of the three men that stood in the small room. He had mid-back length brown hair and brown eyes with a small black dot between them. "We get you in, you get the boy, and go."

Lifting his hands out, the black-haired man spread them, "I don't get why you're doing this!" he complained, "I mean, _you_ delivered the kid to them in the first place, but now you want him broke out? Tseng, you really aren't making much sense."

The man, addressed as Tseng glanced away, hands pulling the cuffs of his dark blue dress-coat sleeves down. He didn't answer right away, and the dark-haired man smirked, "I think I get it," he looked towards the dusky skinned bald man, "You two aren't quite loyal anymore."

"Our loyalties aren't your business," Tseng stated. "I'd have figured this kind of job would be right up your alley, Zack."

Lifting his chin, Zack laughed, dropping his hands to his sides, "Yeah, but it's a risky thing, and I'm curious why you aren't going in and getting him yourselves?"

Tseng frowned slightly, "We have our own reasons for that, as well. We're not paying you to ask questions. We're paying you to get the boy and get him out. Take him wherever you wish, just not Radiant Garden, not to Midgar."

"And you're paying me in advance?" Zack asked.

"We don't want to have to meet you again," Tseng stated.

"There anything else I should know? Like about the situation I'm going to be walking into?" Zack asked, shifting his weight.

Taking a breath, Tseng tapped his fingers against the side-seam of his pants, frowning slightly, "Xemnas, the current king of the Nobodies and Maleficent, the current queen of the Heartless, have joined forces to collect the Princes of Darkness in an effort to open Kingdom Hearts so they can absorb it and rule the universe." Tseng paused, "However, Xemnas has made a grave mistake. He recently tried to use the Princes' power to open Kingdom Hearts, but even their combined power wasn't enough to open it fully. They've created a Keyblade, and Xemnas has put it away somewhere, but the Princes are mad and they know about the Amplifier. It's only a matter of time before they realize that Xemnas has a portion of it... it's on the boy's arm."

Zack nodded slowly, "I see. So are you really paying me enough for this? Soon as I take him, everyone's going to be chasing after me."

Tseng frowned slightly, "Look for Cloud Strife. You know him right?"

Slowly nodding, Zack frowned, "What's Cloud got to do with any of this, though?"

"Trust me, find him. He's the one you need to get the boy to," Tseng replied, then gestured. Obediently, the bald fist fighter stepped forward and set a heavy sack on the table, it clinked musically.

Waiting for the man to step back, Zack reached out to take the bag, but even as he did, he grinned and said, "You know I'm not really doing it for the money."

"Of course not," Tseng replied. "But it's a nice bonus. Now go. The ship we promised is waiting outside, it's got the coordinates already logged in. Just don't return here when you finish your mission."

"Right," Zack agreed and hauling the sack over his shoulder, headed out the door. The bag jingled as it connected with the broad blade of his new sword that was also clipped to his back. The door closed behind the black haired ex-SOLDIER with a swish.

"You sure that was the right move?" the bald man asked, speaking up for the first time as he pushed his dark glasses up his nose.

Tseng sighed softly, "I don't think Hojo is going to willingly fix the mess he made of Elena, and I doubt anything Hojo does to that boy will be of any help in fixing the mess Reno has become... So all we can do, in the end..." He closed his eyes, bowing his head as he folded his arms, "Is pray that maybe the boy's allies will figure something out."

"I've never been one for praying," the bald man admitted and cracked his knuckles.

"Me neither."

* * *

She found him standing at the balustrade of that balcony she'd followed him to the night before, and to be honest, she'd not actually been looking for him. Instead, she'd been seeking some solitude, having gotten tired of talking to Kairi, nice as she was... it just felt a little too weird to suddenly have another female friend that she could actually act girly in front of. But acting girly just wasn't quite natural for Kaiyou anymore, and so she'd claimed she was tired and escaped. She'd been cornered in the kitchen after having gone down to find some sustenance. 

Now, however, she'd discovered Riku in what she supposed was going to be Their Angsting Post - well, for however long the both of them were in this place. Stepping up beside him quietly, Kaiyou leaned forward, trying to get a peek at Riku's face.

He looked away.

Settling back on her heels, Kaiyou regarded him silently for a long moment before finally turning and folded her arms on the balustrade in front of her, crossing her legs at her ankles. "Darn weather," she stated and surprised, he looked towards her, eying her through his hair. "Bright and sunny. Not conductive towards having a proper angst party."

Snorting, Riku looked down, but apparently wasn't cheered by her flippant comment. Lifting her head, she looked towards him and had to raise a hand to shove her hair out of her eyes, "So what happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it," he stated darkly.

"You know, if there's one thing I've learned from all this mess, it's that burying things that hurt me doesn't make it go away," Kaiyou pointed out. "...makes it worse, actually."

Riku pulled his lips back into a painful sneer, "But talking about it doesn't fix the problem either."

"No, it doesn't," Kaiyou agreed and looked down at the ground below, lowering her hand back to clutch the crystal pendant of her necklace.

_'Gone and made a mess of things again... why can't I just learn to keep my mouth shut? I can't fix anyone, and I should get used to that fact,'_ Kaiyou told herself firmly. Thankfully, Roxas was too far away to hear her thoughts and bother her about them. She really didn't want to talk to him at the moment.

After a few more moments of silence, Kaiyou pushed herself upright and turned, heading for the stairs. Riku obviously didn't want company right now - even if the prospect of just going to her room wasn't very appealing. She didn't want to talk to happy people, but she didn't want to be alone either, and Riku was the only non-cheerful person in this place... other than Roxas, but he kept trying to _fix_ her, and Demyx, who just frightened her.

"Kaiyou..."

Coming to a stop as she reached the doorway, she didn't turn to look at him, but was surprised when he touched her arm lightly, just above the green fabric of her arm-sock. Thrills ran through her, making goose-bumps on her flesh as his fingers wrapped around her arm. "I didn't mean to snap at you," he said, staring off to the side, hair covering his face, obscuring his expression. "Sorry if it made you mad."

Lifting her head, Kaiyou stared up at him, eyes round, mouth open in shock. "I - I was the one prying, so you had every right to tell me to buzz off. I mean. ...I'm not mad! I...it's okay." Except now she was eaten up with curiosity as to what could hurt him so badly. Lifting a hand, she placed her hand over his on her arm. "...just...if you want to...talk or anything, I'll listen. I know I don't have any answers, but I'll listen."

"You're always listening," Riku stated, "Taking on more than your share of problems."

Shaking her head slightly, Kaiyou couldn't help the blush that crossed her features, "I want to help... I just have a knack for screwing things up." He was standing so close - so very close, and she wanted to just step in and hug him. But even if he'd initiated the physical contact they were currently in, Kaiyou doubted that Riku was the huggy sort. _'He'll probably carry on as if nothing's wrong until he breaks - probably because he thinks people are counting on him to be stable and sane...'_ "like the earth."

"What?"

Ducking her head down to avoid looking at his eyes, Kaiyou mumbled, "Nothing. Just thinking..."

Taking hold of her chin with his free hand, Riku forced her to lift her head and look at his face. Captivated by his shocking blue eyes, Kaiyou could do little but stand there, ensnared as he asked again, "What did you say?"

"...you're like the earth," she admitted finally, "Standing there, showing no signs that anything's wrong... but underneath, the pressure is building."

"You sure see a lot." Briefly, he looked away, "and you're right. But ...it's just not something ..."

"It's your father again," Kaiyou guessed, and knew she'd hit the mark when he flinched. His hand slipped from her arm, and frightened she'd hurt him further, Kaiyou clutched his hand, "I'm sorry - I'm prying again, aren't I?" shaking her head, she squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to break down into tears. _'Stupid! Screwed up again! Said the wrong thing! Like always.'_

To her surprise, he took her hand in both of his instead of pulling it from her grip entirely. "No, you're...right again," he sighed, "At this rate, you're going to just guess everything and I won't have to say anything."

Lifting her eyes, she met his gaze again, and he lifted a hand to her face, and lifted away the tear that had snuck free from her hold. Staring at it, embarrassed that he'd seen her cry, _'MADE me cry, for god's sake... cry for him...'_

"You're a lot like water," Riku stated, "you splash when rocks are thrown at you, but when the ripples die away, there's no wound." Kaiyou blushed darker as he licked the tear off his finger and continued, "It makes people think that they can't really hurt you." Captivated by his eyes again, she couldn't have looked away, even if the world were falling away into darkness around her. "It makes it seem alright to abuse you... but you won't stop them, because you're in us all."

And just as he'd said - just like he'd said - tears broke free from her hold, gliding down her shallow cheeks. Physical proof that he'd made a solid splash with the boulder he'd just dumped over the side of the dock into her depths. "You wanted to...make me cry, didn't you?" she accused, throat tight.

The same hand that had stolen her tear before reached forward again, cupping her check this time. "I was just informing you of the truth. It's always easy to see the flaws in others, but not yourself."

_'But how did this subject turn out to be about me?'_ Kaiyou desperately wanted to know, but he was leaning closer and she was pinned straight through the heart by his eyes. _'He's...going to kiss me!'_ she realized, eyes going wider.

_'And you want him to,'_ Umi pointed out calmly.

Her heart pounded as she tipped her face up, eyes still wide - and widened further as pain shot through her body. Arching her back, her scream rang off the walls and lingered, ringing in her ears long after she no longer had the breath to. She didn't feel the crack of her knees against the floor as it rushed up to meet her.

* * *

It was the chill that woke him. 

He'd gotten so used to being suspended in warm liquid, cradled by its gentle wave-like pulse... he wanted to go back,

But now, he was lying on something chill and hard, bindings across his legs and chest. He could still roll his head, and he did, opening his eyes to a dizzy swirl of colors. The world looked like it was made of shifting liquid, the very air made of partials of color.

He began to shiver.

He tried to speak.

"uuhaa...?"

"So, you're awake," another voice said, and he recognized that voice. But for the life of him, he couldn't remember the name.

A face loomed over him, pale, with silver hair, bored red eyes. "Well, well, Sora, we meet again," he said, "But I'd say it looks like I have the upper hand this time." He smirked slightly. Not that the man really cared one way or another, but he smiled none the less.

"Uhrhh..." Sora said, glad to know his own name, but the question of where he was, why he was there, and who this man in black standing over him was, remained.

The man stepped back, "You've been injected with Mako, Sora. I'm told the process isn't pleasant, although it's the same process done to enhance Shinra's SOLDIERs, so I've found. Hojo didn't inform me of that. I'm rather irritated. But it hardly matters. You will be dead soon, he assures me. Your body didn't absorb the Mako successfully, meaning that you're poisoned."

Turning, the man smiled down at him thinly, "Poisoned and helpless while I achieve my goals of creating Kingdom Hearts, absorbing it, and creating a universe of darkness using the Amplifier."

Sora rolled his head, assuming that this man's plans were a bad thing. A Very Bad Thing. But what could he do? He could hardly move what wasn't bound, and the rest of him was tied to the table.

Getting bored with Sora's lack of response, the man turned away, Sora rolled his head to watch the man in the long black coat as he stepped over to a bench with a multitude of _things_. Sora struggled to identify these things, especially the one that the man in black picked up. Pressing a button on the side, the man made the shiny circular end spin with a loud buzzing noise and something in the back of Sora's mind nudged him.

A thought finally bubbled to the surface, _'I think he means to use that on me...'_

Panic simmered beneath the confusion as the man approached him. "However, before you die, you will be giving me the part of the Amplifier you've been carrying around. If I have to cut your arm off to get it..."

_'Oh – that's a ...SAW?'_ Sora's eyes widened, panic finally winning out over his confusion.

The saw continued to buzz loudly as the man approached Sora, then set the blade against the bracer on his left arm.

_She screamed._

He screamed.

He screamed until he had no breath, and even after bucked against the restraints. The restraints held.

Withdrawing the blade, the man in black scowled at Sora, "Quit wiggling, you brat!" he snapped and put his free hand on Sora's elbow, pressing down with all his weight as he put the blade back to work, trying to cut through the Amplifier bracer to get it off.

Sora screamed again, barely having the breath to, but he screamed all the same, pain arcing up and down through his body, making the swirling colored air twist and pulse red. Weight settled in his right hand, and out of desperation, he lashed out, the restraint on his arm snapping as he flailed at his torturer.

The saw dropped to the floor as the man in black gasped in pain, "What?" he asked, "How did you...?"

Collapsing back down on the table, Sora panted, pain still flickering through him.

He could feel _her_ too. She was crying.

But he could do nothing more than lay there. His moment of panic-driven adrenaline had passed and he was now drained.

Unfortunately, even as he watched, the man in black was getting to his feet again, picking up the saw once more.

* * *

_AN: sorry this chapter's short, but several other chapters in this section are really long and I just HAD to take advantage of this lovely cliffhanger to torment you with!_

_And here's a bit of explanation for the previous chapter's Next Chapter thing:  
__Aloria: hey, should I be slightly mean, or REALLY mean?  
__Misaryn: really mean? To Kaiyou? Go be mean to Sora! You've neglected him lately.  
__Aloria: But if I'm mean to Sora, then I'll, by effect, be mean to everyone else. Bwahahahaha - Alright, I'll go throw rocks at Sora, and catch EVERYONE in the avalanche! Lol!_

_Next Chapter: It's a chapter full of drugs and gamboling! Can everyone get their act together long enough to get the task done, or will they kill each other before they even get out of Disney Castle? _


	62. Blackout

_Chapter 62_

_(Blackout)_

Boarding his transportation had been the easy part...

And even that had been strangely complicated! Involving a struggle up the side of the ship to a hatch on the top, which he'd had to pry open with his new sword. The hatch, thankfully, seemed to repair itself shortly after his forced entry, but it was still a little disconcerting.

Zack heaved a sigh and shook his hair from his face where he sat in the middle chair of the bridge of his little ship - the outside of which, in his opinion, looked like a dying spider - and stared at the controls. "Yeah... I think they like sending me on impossible missions," he said to himself as he scratched the side of his head, looking at the confusing array of controls. He'd been riding this thing for at least an hour. "Then again, I never could judge time very easily. Man I'm bored!" Getting to his feet once again, he wandered the bridge, taking note of the sparse furnishings which consisted of just three chairs with their controls panel and the teleport pad, the bathroom which was the only other room aside from the bridge in this tiny ship, and the windows located over the control panel. The meager stash of things he'd brought were piled in the corner opposite of the teleport pad, up against the lockers that held food and other supplies. That stash numbered his bag of munny, which Zack suspected he would never live to spend, and his sword, a blade of about five feet long and a foot wide with a slight curve near the tip. It had five Materia slots, and unfortunately, Zack had no Materia on him. The last thing he had was a square hip-pack with potions, antidotes, and a few other supplies that might come in handy.

"_Man_ I am bored!" Zack complained and bounced on his toes a little, then did a few squats to relieve a little of his energy. It didn't really help. "Wonder if I can make this thing go faster?"

Grinning, Zack hopped back into the pilot's chair and reached out and boldly began playing with switches and dials just to see what they did. "Now how do I do I make this thing go faster? Is there some sort of ignition key or something? Why can't I just ride a bike or something? I know how to work those!" As he spoke, his hands worked at this and that, and finally, unable to resist the candy red buttons on the top row, Zack pressed them all in a random sequence.

With a thump and bang, the ship suddenly lurched, throwing him forward against the controls. "Well, I guess I got it to start up?" he said and lifted his head, looking out the front window as a world came into view. The atmosphere outside had gotten even darker than before, the odd hues swirling outside of the ship had turned more towards black, and Zack blinked, "Oh crap, I'm going faster." Not a good thing considering that he was aimed straight for the world that was looming ahead.

That world had a very prominent feature on its surface and it was in the form of a great white castle – which Zack's ship was unmistakably headed straight towards. Over this castle was a great white heart-shaped moon. "This... isn't going to be pretty," Zack surmised as he clutched the edges of the control panel in front of him. "I should buckle in or something... but these seats apparently don't have belts!" Grinning despite, Zack pushed off the control panel and turned, dashing to the back where his pack of healing supplies and new sword were stashed. Pulling the straps of his pack around his hips and left thigh, he buckled it in place over the loose dark blue cloth of his pants. Picking up his sword, Zack snapped that into the hooks worked onto the back of his shoulder guards. With those in place, he was ready for battle and headed for the ladder and hatch he'd used to get into the ship.

Looking towards the front windows again, Zack watched as the white castle loomed closer and climbed to the top of the ladder, ready to throw the hatch open and dive out.

Still closer, and it looked like Zack was going to get lucky, his ship was going to crash into what looked like a dock. Then again, that was a lot of open space he was going to have to run across. Taking a firmer hold on the ladder with his left hand, he reached up with his right to open the hatch.

The ship hit and rolled, the force of it pulling the hatch from Zack's grip and only his clinging to the ladder saved him from being thrown out of the ship completely or tossed around the cockpit. Finally rolling onto one side – hatch up, thankfully – the ship skidded across the docking bay floor towards the back wall. Zack, figuring this was as good a time as any to abandon ship, swarmed up the ladder and leapt out.

Landing hard, he rolled and was on his feet again, running for the nearest door as creatures began appearing in the docking bay. "Guess the guards are here!" Zack said cheerfully and reached back, grabbing the hilt of his sword.

Mid-stride, he slashed at a gray-rubber creature that appeared in front of him, cleaving it in half, and its smoke was still in the process of dissipating even as Zack was nearly twelve feet past it, still running. Another creature appeared in front of him – a little black thing that really was kind of cute in a demonic fashion – but Zack slashed it too.

He ran through the resulting black smoke and was through the door. Beyond, Zack found a wide hall, and with little choice, he continued running, heading straight down it. According to Tseng's information, the boy was being held in Hojo's lab, which was on the fifth level, in the west tower, "Wherever that is!" Zack complained, hyper-focused on just going forward as fast as he could, taking out whatever monsters got in his way.

At a T-intersection, Zack was forced to skid to a stop, looking right, then left. "Which way?" he worried, he really was running on a clock now. The people who owned this place were sure to have heard of the ship and intruder by now. Bubbles of darkness formed around him and Zack turned, putting his back towards the wall, sword ready as he stared at the gray and black creatures.

"Am I supposed to ask directions from these things?" he wondered aloud.

The monsters, however, weren't inclined to chat. Instead, a rubbery gray one lunged for him and Zack danced back, blocking with the flat of his blade before retaliating with a swift slash that caught the creature in a diagonal cut, shoulder to pelvis. It fell apart and turned to smoke. Without waiting their turn, the black creatures swarmed towards Zack, and using his momentum from slashing the gray one, the ex-SOLDIER spun to catch his new attackers in a horizontal slash that sent them flying back. Despite the ones he killed, more were showing up by the minute, and deciding that he didn't have time to play with them, he made a break for it, turning left down the intersection, leaping over more of the little black creatures as they stood up from the floor.

Maybe he was making progress, maybe not, either way, Zack burst through a door and nearly toppled over the railing of a landing that was located on the outside of the castle. "Woah... long drop," Zack observed as he looked down briefly. Turning, he decided to head down the stairs, since he was apparently at the top. Above, the strangely shaped moon glowed brilliant white making the already crawling shadows appear to be reaching out for him.

Actually, they were, Zack realized as he leapt over a slightly larger black monster that reached out to grab him. Another landing came into sight and Zack wondered if that was the bottom of the stairs or not. Diving into a roll as he got to the landing, he came to his feet inside once more – and skidded to a halt as the walls, floor, and ceiling suddenly morphed into blackness. Sword at the ready, Zack stared around, hunting for his next victim.

"Well," said a male voice from the darkness, "What're the odds of this? An intruder? What're you looking for in our lovely castle?"

Zack frowned briefly as he slowly shifted his stance, turning to look all around, "Looking for a boy. Currently a prisoner of Hojo's."

"Oh, him," the voice said, and a figure in a long black coat stepped out of the darkness. "Well, I could tell you where to find him..." Zack doubted he would though, however, the man continued, pushing his hood back to reveal short blonde hair, blue eyes, and a mustache and goatee framing a pair of lips that smiled at Zack, "How about a little wager?"

Snorting, Zack replied, "I think I'll ask one of those other critters running around."

"The chances of getting one of those things to answer is one in a million," the man pointed out, raising his hands in a shrug. He then shuffled in his pocket, puling out a deck of cards, which he began to shuffle from one hand to the other.

Zack brought his sword up slightly, pointing at the man. The man grinned slightly, "But the chances of you getting an answer from me are much higher... I'd give you twenty-seventy odds. What do you say? Shall we deal?"

"I don't think I really have the time to play with you," Zack admitted, balancing carefully as he gripped his sword in both hands, the blade never wavering.

The man smiled slightly, "Too bad, I guess."

"What do you get if you win?" Zack asked.

"Why, a moment's reprieve from boredom, and the bragging rights of taking down one of Hojo's little SOLDIER's," the man replied, "If you win, I'll tell you how to get to Hojo's lab."

"And," Zack put in quickly, "an easy way to get out of here once I've got the boy."

The man grinned, pausing with his deck split, half in each hand as he raised his shoulders in another shrug, "Sounds fair, I guess. The name's Luxord. It's a pleasure to gamble with you."

"Zack. The pleasure's mine."

Throwing his right hand out, Luxord sprayed the cards he held in a wide ark, obscuring Zack's vision and distracting him. Lifting his sword, Zack sliced at the cards, but they disappeared after being cut to pieces and he found that he was standing alone in the darkness again. The hair on the back of his neck rose, and on instinct, Zack dived into a roll as a giant card went wheeling past at head-height, the edges of it glimmering like metal.

Then, from the darkness, more human-sized cards appeared, encircling Zack and spinning around him with their faces towards him. They were all face-cards of Luxord. Irritated with the Nobody's tricks, Zack slashed at the cards, slicing one in half, then another. The third one he cut produced a grunt of pain, and the cards disappeared, revealing Luxord.

Before Zack could follow up on the attack, though, Luxord straightened and flicked his right hand, his cards sliding out to align end-on-end into a sword, which he leapt towards Zack with. Now that he was in familiar territory, Zack brought his blade up to block Lux's first attack, then shoved the Nobody away, following up with another slash at waist height.

The forgotten other half of Luxord's deck made itself known again as the cards reappeared, flying through the air in a storm that sliced at Zack, driving him back from his opponent. Wounded now, and a little irritated, Zack slashed his sword to the side, then up, drawing on his inner strength. Lifting his blade, he slammed it down onto the ground, sending a wave of energy across the black floor towards Luxord, momentarily ignoring the slicing cards.

Hit by the attack, Luxord grunted in pain and his flying cards returned to his hand. Not waiting for Lux to catch his breath, Zack came running in, sword down and back as he closed on his opponent. Swinging his sword around in a hard slash, he sent Luxord flying into the air. Leaping after, Zack brought his sword around to slash again, he hit Luxord once more before the Nobody opened a portal and dropped into it, escaping Zack's next attack.

Landing hard and falling to a kneel, Zack winced slightly as he pushed himself upright once more. Those flying cards had done more damage to him than he'd first thought. His distraction at his own wounds cost him more blood, for another set of giant blade-cards appeared from nowhere and slammed into his back before disappearing. Nearly dropping his sword, Zack staggered, clenching his teeth on the pain.

"...will...not...give...up!" he panted as he straightened.

Luxord just laughed.

When the next set of flying-blade cards came at Zack, this time from the front, the ex-SOLDIER brought his sword around and parried them, knocking them off course, then leapt forward, hyper-focused on his target – Luxord.

Blue eyes widening, Lux brought out his card-sword, but it was already too late.

The darkness shattered, falling like a house of cards around the pair.

Zack panted, dripping blood on the floor, his knees feeling weak.

"I think... I won."

Pulling his sword free from Luxord's chest, Zack staggered back a step.

A smirk crossed the gambler's lips as he lifted a hand to his wound. It wasn't bleeding. Instead, he was leaking threads of thorns that disintegrated and disappeared as they floated free of his form.

Smirking as he looked up at Zack, the Nobody stated, "I guess you did win. I suppose I should honor the agreement. Take this hall to the next intersection, turn right, you'll get to an elevator. Go to the fifth floor. The lab is the sixth door on the left. And the easiest way to get out... go back to the elevator, take it to the top. You'll find yourself in a big room, go straight across it, and turn right. That hall will lead you back to the bay where your ship is."

"Wait – how do I know I can trust you?" Zack asked as Luxord's form began to unravel into disintegrating thorns of darkness.

The Nobody laughed, "You can bet on it." With that, he dissipated into little shards of darkness.

"Right... you were a worthy opponent, Luxord, farewell." Turning, Zack sheathed his sword in the clips on his back and limped onwards, reaching into his pack to pull out a couple of potions to fix his wounds with. As Luxord had said, there was an intersection a short distance down the hall. Skidding around the corner, Zack turned right. The hall that followed seemed nearly endlessly long, but finally, he reached the end, and the elevator.

Stepping onto the elevator, and hoping that he wasn't going to be attacked any more – since he'd not been after defeating Luxord – Zack hit the button for the fifth floor and finally made use of the potions he'd pulled out, breaking them on himself. His wounds healed in green tingling light, and rolling his shoulders, he shook out his arms as he waited for the elevator to stop at his floor.

The moment the elevator stopped and the doors opened, Zack was on the move again.

Of course, the doors had to be fairly far between on this hall, but as he ran, Zack could faintly hear a high pitched whining and the sound of someone screaming. Putting on more speed, he finally located the sixth door and turned sideways, sliding to a stop in front of it. In a swift move, Zack lifted his right foot and kicked the door open – finding that it was indeed the source of the screaming.

A man with silver hair in a black coat like Luxord's was standing over a young man tied to an operation table, shouting. "You _will_ give it to me if I have to take your arm off with it!"

The man hadn't heard the door slam open behind him, nor did he hear Zack's quick steps across the room. With a swift chop that cut the air, the ex-SOLDIER landed a blow across the back of the man's head that dropped him to the ground. Picking up the fallen saw, Zack turned it off and set it aside as he checked the man he'd taken down. "He looks kind of like Sephiroth... only not. Weird." Zack shook his head and stood, looking around for a place to stow the man.

Well, there was the bench and cupboards to the left – that had possibility, but after checking them, Zack found that they had too many shelves to stick a body into. Turning, he panned his eyes across the bookshelves and the Mako tank, then settled on the lockers that stood bolted against the wall near the Mako tank with a printer set beside them. Hurrying over, Zack pulled the doors open and looked within, finding one full of shelves with printer paper and various other equipment – bright color caught his eyes and reaching in, Zack pulled out a pair of red side-packs, then looked back at the boy strapped to the table. "Looks like these are probably yours," he mused, then turned back to the other locker – which only held an extra lab coat.

Heading back to the man he'd knocked out and the boy, Zack dropped the packs on the boy and grabbed the unconscious Nobody, pulling him across the floor and stuffed him into the empty locker. On third thought, Zack found a shop rag from the other locker and gagged the silver-haired Nobody with it. Closing both doors, Zack returned to the boy he'd been hired to save, looped the side-packs over his shoulder and worked at the restraints holding the kid to the table. "Geez, you broke one?" he mused, finding that the boy's right arm had a welt across it and the strap was broken.

Shaking his head, Zack pulled the kid off the table and headed for the door, "Heh. This is familiar," he looked towards the boy as his eyes briefly opened, revealing brilliant blue between the sagging strands of his spiky brown hair. "Let's get out of here before anyone else realizes I'm here!"

With that, he started off down the hall as fast as he could go, one of the boy's arms over his shoulder, hauling him along.

* * *

"Kaiyou!" a voice floated up the stairs and he could hear the pounding of feet. People were coming - and they were going to ask Riku what he'd been doing, and this just wasn't going to look good at all.

Riku, not knowing what to do, could only crouch on the floor beside her as Kaiyou thrashed on the floor in what had to be complete agony. When she could get air, she screamed, but otherwise, she bucked against his hold on her, eyes wide and unseeing as she kicked and failed. In her movements, she'd ripped the chain of her necklace and sent her pendant flying, and fearing it getting lost, Riku had caught it and put it in his pocket.

Skidding to a stop at the top of the stairs, Roxas looked on the scene with shock, then hurried forward to kneel beside Kaiyou as well, reaching out a hand, "Riku - what'd you do to her?" he demanded.

"Nothing! We were just talking!" Riku snapped back, trying to pin her to the floor as she started thrashing again, lacking the breath to scream any more. "Hold her head still," he ordered.

Apparently seeing the intelligence of doing so, Roxas reached out to take hold of Kaiyou's head - then gasped, jerking back, arms wrapping around himself. "Roxas!" Riku snapped, "What the hell's wrong with you! Help me before she really hurts herself."

"Someone's attacking her somehow," Roxas said, "I can't touch her!"

Thankfully, Laguna was the next to appear and dropped to his knees at Kaiyou's head, taking hold and forcing her to remain still. And just then, her eyes widened - focused on the people above her - then rolled back, body going limp. Daring to reach forward again, Roxas touched her hand and said, "Whatever, or whoever it was has stopped..."

"For now, at least," Riku stated darkly.

"What were you two doing up here anyway?" Roxas demanded.

"Talking," Riku stated flatly, "Hurting her is the last thing I'd do - she's Sora's sister."

Eyes meeting, Roxas stared at Riku for a long moment, then finally nodded, finally believing Riku's answer. Roxas didn't need to know that it had almost been a bit more than "just talking."

"Let's get her off this cold floor," Laguna said and once he let go, Riku carefully lifted the limp girl up, carrying her bridal style.

"I don't like this," Roxas muttered, "Someone being able to hurt her..." He trailed off, staring off across the balcony, towards the sky beyond, wearing that slightly sour expression Riku recalled as being the first difference he'd noticed between Roxas and Sora.

_'And being completely helpless to do anything about it,'_ Riku finished for Roxas reading that distant look, _'...I completely agree.'_

Following Laguna, Riku carried Kaiyou down the stairs, then back up another set to her room where Roxas stepped forward to pull the blankets back on the bed, then removed Kaiyou's shoes as Riku gently set her down.

"We should probably call another meeting," Laguna stated.

"While she's unconscious so she can be left out," Riku stated as he straightened and turned towards the door.

Laguna frowned slightly, folding his arms, "I don't like it much either, but I lost her once already, I'm not going to let her get involved this time."

Temper flaring, molten and slow, Riku stated, "News flash, _Mister President_, she already _is_ involved! She was probably involved the moment she was born! She can't help what she is, but the least you can do is give her the chance to fight for her freedom!"

Brown eyes going hard, Laguna's expression closed, "No, Riku," he stated firmly, "This isn't her fight."

"Like hell!" Riku snapped and stalked out of the room.

Looking towards Roxas, Laguna's expression remained firm, but as the partial-Nobody looked back over his shoulder from where he was perched on the edge of Kaiyou's bed, a hand on her forehead, Roxas said softly, "I'm not arguing with you. It's safer for her here. And the faster we get at the one who did this to her, the safer she'll be."

Nodding, Laguna dropped his gaze and sighed, looking very tired. "I'll go find Kairi and ask her to watch Kaiyou for a bit." Turning, he left the room.

With a regretful sigh, Roxas turned back to face Kaiyou. Her face was pale and he could see traces of tears on her cheeks. "Talking..." he muttered, "I swear, Riku, I'm going to kick your ass if you were being a jerk."

* * *

"Riku," a voice called, startling him as he was stalking down the hall in search of something he could kick to let off some steam. His search, thus far, had not been successful. There were statues and furniture and mirrors and all sorts of other things in the halls and rooms, not suitable targets for his fury. In the garden, there were flowers, bushes, and trees, but none of them were really sturdy enough to take a beating. Riku was just too pissed now and really didn't want to deal with anyone or anything else.

Aerith, however, had other ideas. "Riku," she called again and he came to a stop, listening to the sound of her heavy boots on the floor as she strode towards him. "Riku?" she asked, placing a hand on his arm, then stepped closer, coming around to face him, "Something wrong?"

"No, I'm fine," he lied, expression held in firm check.

She saw right through him, though, and smiled slightly, "You're angry," she observed, "Why?"

_'Just like how Kaiyou can look right through me...'_ Riku realized, but that didn't mean he wasn't still mad. "It's not your business," he stated instead. He had no obligation to pour his heart out to this woman, no matter how much she reminded him of his mother.

Aerith sighed, tipping her head slightly as she gazed up at him, "You're sure?" she asked.

"Quite." Sidestepping, he made to walk past her, but her hand caught his arm once more.

"Did you talk to your father?" she asked.

"He and I have nothing to say to each other," Riku stated. _'The asshole is a liar and that's the end of it.'_

"Oh Riku," Aerith sighed and shook her head.

"That's not your business either, lady," Riku stated, trying to drive home the point that while she might know Vincent, Riku didn't know _her_ and she was thus, not entitled to know his problems.

Her hand tightened on his arm anyway, "I have a feeling," Aerith said slowly, "that you will know that it is my business... fairly soon. But no matter what happens, remember the ones who bring light into your life. Don't let the darkness overwhelm you."

"_That's_ not going to happen," Riku stated, _'ever again.'_ Turning and looking down at her, his eyes narrowed slightly, "You're really strange, you know that?"

Aerith laughed, emerald eyes sparkling. She didn't bother denying his accusation. "Also, Cloud wanted to talk to you. He's in the garden."

Grunting to indicate that he'd heard her, Riku watched as she smiled at him once more and turned, walking off.

Not sure if he really wanted to go talk to Cloud or not, Riku turned, heading for the garden anyway. It wasn't likely he was going to find anything to vent his frustration on, so he would just have to deal with it and take things out on the next Heartless he saw.

When he reached the garden, Riku found Cloud standing with his arms folded on his chest, frowning slightly. Riku also noted that he had his sword sheathed on his back. "You came," Cloud stated.

"Not like there's anything else to do around here," Riku replied, unintentionally growling his answer.

Cloud's eyes fell half-lidded.

Irritated at Cloud for calling him and then not getting to the point, Riku prodded, "Well? Are you just going to stand there and look at me or get around to telling me what you wanted?"

"...nothing like him at all," Cloud muttered. "I wanted to test your skills," he stated, raising his voice and addressing Riku.

_'At last!'_ Riku couldn't help the sneer that curled his lips as he looked at Cloud, _'I can take him. I'm taller than him and have more mass, even if he does have a bigger sword. Compensation. He can't possibly be fast with that thing.'_

"Fine. Let's dance," Riku stated.

Blade flashing into existence in his hand, Riku leapt aside as Cloud was suddenly there, broad heavy sword cleaving the ground where Riku had been standing. _'Holy - this guy's FAST!'_ Deciding to stay on the defensive until he'd figured out just _how_ fast Cloud could be, Riku sprang away again as Cloud pulled his sword free of the ground and came at him again, sweeping his blade around in an arc that just barely missed Riku's bare stomach and the thought of, _'Maybe I should get some actual armor?'_ occurred to Riku as Cloud lunched for him again.

This time, Riku brought his Keyblade around and blocked Cloud's attack. For a moment, they stood at a draw, putting all their weight on their swords, but neither giving way. "You're pretty strong - for a scrawny guy," Riku admitted.

Suddenly, Cloud shoved Riku back and side-stepped, swinging his blade around at knee-height. Leaping up, Riku landed on the blade, looking down at Cloud briefly before back-flipping away. He had to roll to the side again as Cloud closed the gap between them once more in a swift rush. _'Dude - I think this guy's mad at me!'_ Riku realized as he had to dodge yet again. _'Maybe I shouldn't have just agreed to fight him?'_

"You're not putting any effort into it!" Cloud snapped as he came to a stop, "Show me what you can do!"

Riku stopped as well, frowning, "I don't fight allies with intent to kill," he pointed out, but Cloud possibly hadn't heard him, for he'd lifted his sword again and lunched at Riku. Leaping upwards, Riku barely dodged getting skewered, then glared at the blonde. "But fine - don't blame me if something happens!" he shouted and as he landed, came at Cloud so fast the scenery around him blurred into a smear of color. Apparently having not expected that, Cloud brought his sword around to block Riku's slash, then had to block again as Riku continued coming at him with everything he had.

Several more blocked strikes later and Cloud finally managed to disengage from Riku, but even then, he didn't have the chance to retaliate, for the younger silver-haired man stepped around to the side, flanking Cloud. Lashing out with a powerful kick, Riku sent Cloud flying. Flipping and managing to land on his feet some distance away, the blonde eyed Riku, "You could have killed me," he said, lowering his sword, "but you didn't." He seemed confused.

Lowering his guard as well, Riku stared at Cloud, "You're cracked. Seriously," Riku stated, "Or are you suicidal or something?" Irritated, Riku sent his Keyblade away, "I don't want a fight badly enough to get blamed when you fall on my sword or something."

Cloud, however, didn't give him much of a choice and came at him again, rushing across the ground in a low stance, sword back and steel cutting the air with a loud humm. Swinging his sword up and around, Cloud slammed it down into the ground where Riku had been standing. It was only by virtue of his having _watched_ Cloud come running at him that he'd managed to get away in time. He would have cursed up a storm, too, but his vocabulary was too limited to quite express his current feelings.

Pulling his sword free, Cloud spun to face Riku again, and left with no other choice, Riku called his Keyblade back to his hand and blocked Cloud's strike. Driven back a step at a time, Riku could do little in the face of the blonde's apparent fury but retreat and think that maybe he'd gotten into a mess he wasn't going to be able to get out of. _'Damned if I do, damned if I don't. I think this guy really DOES want to kill me!'_

Finally sneaking a strike past Riku's guard, Cloud slapped Riku with the flat of his blade, sending the silver-haired boy flying. Losing his grip on his Keyblade in mid-flight, Riku only barely managed to land on his feet and stared at Cloud as he picked up Riku's blade from the ground.

Disliking the man's casual study of Riku's blade, Riku held out his hand, calling it back.

In a flash, Road to Dawn disappeared from Cloud's grip, and looking back over towards Riku, he stated, "That must be convenient. Can't ever really disarm you..."

"You could have killed me with a stunt like that," Riku pointed out, "Whatever your problem is - quit projecting your issues on me."

Cloud stared at him for a long silent moment, holding that huge sword one-handed down by his hip.

Irritated that Cloud hadn't answered, Riku raised his voice, "We're on the same side, you moron! You'd know if I was your enemy. I'd make it _very_ clear. I've had enough of this." Turning, Riku stalked off, heading towards the balcony-hall that overlooked the garden - finding Tifa and Yuffie standing there. Now even more irritated than he was before, Riku sent his Keyblade away and ran up the wall to the balustrade and leapt over it. "I think his medications need adjusting," he told Tifa sourly, "Or perhaps you should muzzle him."

Yuffie's eyes widened. Tifa's lips compressed.

Stalking off, Riku decided that he was going to go hunt down someone who might know where he could get some armor, or at least clothing that protected him more than his current attire did.

* * *

Night came, and night went, and Riku hadn't been able to sleep. Instead, he'd gone on a quest to find some new clothes and get Kaiyou's necklace fixed. Although, it had taken him all night, it was a better spent night than lying in bed worrying about things that were to come.

The final result of his quests was that he was dressed completely in black. His shirt was actually more if a coat that hung down to his ankles that split at his waist into a pair of tails, which were strapped to his legs at his knees with a pair of yellow straps. The sleeveless top was decorated with a pair of matching straps that crossed in an X over his chest. Beneath, he wore loose black pants tucked into boots that came up to his mid-shins. On his hands he wore a set of fingerless gloves, the left of which had a set of spikes on it for offensive as well as defensive use.

Next, though, Riku needed to get Kaiyou's necklace fixed.

After looking at it closely, he discovered that it wasn't likely he could get the chain fixed. It had been short in the first place, but now there was quite a bit of it missing and he doubted it would fit around Kaiyou's neck anymore. After asking Minnie where he could get something to replace the chain with, he'd been directed to the highest tower of the west wing.

Sighing as he started off, Riku rubbed his eyes with his fingers. He was tired, but it was too early in the morning to bother actually going to bed. "May as well finish this..." he muttered and looked up at the stairs that spiraled up the tower, "...but dang this is going to be a long day."

Setting foot on the stairs, Riku started up them, trudging along slowly. It nearly took half an hour for him to get to the top, and once there, he knocked on the door he found.

It swung open at his touch. "Eh... guess I was expected," Riku mused as he stepped into the room beyond. There, he found an old man with bug-eyes sitting behind his desk. _'Wizard,'_ Riku corrected as the pointy hat registered on his mind. Kosuiko was there too, sitting on the floor by the wizard's bookshelves, a book open on her lap. Her voice was the only noise in the room as she carefully sounded out words.

"Riku!" she said cheerfully and put the book aside, hopping to her feet to throw her arms around his shoulders, snuggling her face against his shoulder.

"Hey," Riku greeted her, deciding to treat Kaiyou's Body with respect, since it was slightly strange to dislike her Body when he was rather fond of her Heart. "What're you doing up here?" he asked, glancing towards the old man at his desk – the old wizard had looked up from what he was writing, but otherwise, wasn't paying attention to Riku or Kosuiko.

Looking up at him, Koko replied, pouting, "Dad said he was busy, so I came up here because they don't want me in the library, but I wanted to read. Mister Yen Sid lets me read his books."

Gaze flicking towards Yen Sid, Riku quirked a brow, then said, "I guess if you're not bothering him..."

"Of course I'm not," Koko insisted, "He said he likes my company." Yen Sid actually denigned to nod at that statement, and Riku shrugged slightly and patted Koko's head.

"Alright," turning to Yen Sid, Riku said, "I was told I could get-" he started to say, but the wizard lifted a hand and pointed to his left. "...thanks?" Riku finished slowly.

Koko pursed her lips a little, "What are you up here for?" she asked as she followed Riku to the door Yen Sid had pointed at.

Stepping in before answering, Riku replied, "Aros's necklace chain broke. I want to get it fixed and give it back to her before she wakes up."

Thinking on that, Kosuiko nodded and smiled at him, "I think she'd like that. She makes me feel funny when she's around you." She put her hand over her chest.

"Oh! Guests!" a female voice said as three balls of light flickered into the room. Landing, they turned into three elderly women dressed distinctly in red, blue, and green. "What is it you need, dear?" the red fairy asked. Kosuiko, getting bored with talking, wandered away briefly to inspect the room.

Reaching into his pocket, Riku pulled out what was left of Kaiyou's necklace, "It needs a new chain. Queen Minnie said I could get one here..." Bored with the rest of the room, Kosuiko returned to Riku's side and reached up, beginning to play with his unrestrained mane of hair.

Looking towards each other, the three good fairies nodded. "We can help with that," said the green fairy, "But we'll need something to make it out of – something of yours maybe?"

For a moment, Riku thought on that, patted his pockets, then frowned slightly, "Haven't got anything," he admitted, then paused to pull his hair out of Koko's hands, then looked down at it, "What about this?" he asked.

The blue fairy smiled, "that'll work nicely!" she announced.

Riku, deciding that he'd better cut a lock off on his own before the three fairies got the idea that they could cut all his hair, selected the lock that fell over his left shoulder and used the spike on his glove-bracer to clip it just below his earlobe. "Here," he held it out to the fairies.

"On three!" the red one said cheerfully, then aimed their wands, "three!" she announced and they fired their shot.

As the light dissipated, Riku looked down to find that he was holding a torque of silver wire tightly wrapped into a twist. Taking Kaiyou's charm off the ruined chain, Riku put it on the newly created torque, then nodded. "Thanks." Turning, he started for the door, only to be stopped by the red fairy.

"Now remember – since that's a gift from the heart, it'll have special powers."

Looking back over his shoulder at her, Riku nodded stoically, "Alright." Whatever she meant by that. Continuing out, Riku was followed by Koko who was clinging to his hand. "Are you hungry, Koko?" he asked.

She pondered that, then nodded, smiling brightly up at him.

Taking her back downstairs, Riku spent a quiet ten minutes with her in the kitchen, then, with his missions at last a success Riku headed back through the castle towards Kaiyou's room, intending to return her necklace to her. At the door, however, he found Roxas just stepping out.

Kaiyou... looked unchanged. Pale, eyes closed...

Glancing back into the room briefly, Roxas closed the door gently and turned to face Riku. "You changed your clothes..."

"Yeah," the silver-haired young man stated, "was reminded once again of how practical a long leather coat can be when fighting."

Roxas snorted, "You're ready to go then?"

"So we're just leaving her?" Riku demanded, irritated by everyone's insistence that not just Kaiyou but Kairi as well were completely useless to their cause.

Roxas looked down, refusing to meet Riku's gaze, even as he said, "It's safer for her here. And we don't really have the time to waste. We need to get going." Turning, he started towards the stairs and Riku was left with little choice but to follow. "We've gotten word from Vincent. He said he got a safe place for us to meet him."

Irritated even more as he was reminded that Vincent was over on Radiant Garden by himself, Riku pressed his lips together in a hard line. On the other hand, he rather would have had Kaiyou _with_ him to know that she was safe. _'I can protect her...'_ never mind that she'd fallen down screaming when he'd tried to kiss her. _'That wasn't my fault...'_ he told himself yet again, but it wasn't sticking.

"Is she alright?" he asked instead and Roxas looked up from the floor.

"She's...about the same. I think she'll be alright, though," Roxas admitted. "Whatever was hurting her yesterday hasn't touched her again." He would know...

_'Am I ...jealous of their link?'_ Riku wondered at himself.

Silence fell between them as they walked down the stairs. At the bottom, they turned, heading for the library, and as they approached, they found most everyone gathered there. It was a silent, solemn group that Roxas and Riku walked in on. Cloud was off to the side with the rest of his troop; Tifa, Yuffie, Cid and Aerith. Squall was inflicted with the company of Laguna. Axel had actually teleported down for this final meeting and was standing away from the main body of the group, arms folded and wearing a sour expression as if being in this place was actually causing him pain – which it very well may have been. Yuna was standing next to Khimari with a woman with frosted black hair standing beside her. Riku blinked and headed over to the ex-Summoner as he ignored Cloud's hard gaze following him across the room. "Your friend grew," he stated, then looked Paine over. She looked just as impassive as ever.

Rikku flipped around from where she'd been standing on Khimari's shoulder, "Yeah! She found her Garmentgrid in the bushes! I'm _so_ jealous!" Paine nodded silently to that, her red eyes bored – though her gaze did flick towards his left shoulder, making Riku slightly self-conscious about the lock of hair missing from his shaggy mane. Thankfully Kairi wasn't there, she would have asked.

Riku snorted, then replied, "Luck's with you, at least. You've found two of the three." _'Maybe she'll be less obnoxious full-sized?'_

Yuna laughed softly, "Thanks, Riku." She smiled brilliantly at him, and Riku paused to consider her.

Further talk was prevented, for Squall had raised his voice and stated, "Since we've got limited space on the ships, we're going to split into teams for the ride back to Radiant Garden. After, we're going to teleport down to the city in small groups and travel through the city to regroup in Midgar where we'll meet Vincent and create our attack strategy based on the information he's gotten."

Eyes panning over the group, Squall continued, "Riku, you're with Cloud and Tifa. Yuffie, Aerith, Cid - you're with me. Yuna, you take Paine and Khimari."

"Hey!" Rikku objected, "I stay with Yunie, so don't think you can just split me off or anything."

Squall snorted and ignored her, continuing, "Roxas, you've got Axel and Laguna."

Riku turned and eyed Cloud and Tifa – just as Cloud was staring straight back at him, that slight frown he always wore just slightly deeper. While he disliked this grouping, what could Riku say about it? Other than whine that he wanted to be in someone else's group... Clamping his jaw shut, Riku remained silent and instead glanced around again, realizing that the king, Donald, Goofy, Kairi, and Demyx were missing. Apparently it had already been decided that the others would remain behind to protect Disney Castle. Even more irritated, Riku remained silent, letting the pressure build. He'd take it out on the Heartless soon enough.

_'No choices. They always seem to get taken when more people get involved with things. I rather prefer working on my own or with just Sora and Kairi.'_ Though even Riku had to admit that letting Rufus just _have_ Radiant Garden wasn't really an option either and they needed every fighter they could get on their side. _'But if that's the case, then why leave Kairi and Kaiyou here? Stubborn assholes, the lot of them.'_

"Let's go," Cloud said, startling Riku from his thoughts as he dropped a hand on Riku's shoulder.

Closing his eyes, Riku triggered the teleport without waiting to watch the others go, and on the other side, stepped off the pad of his stolen Heartless ship, heading over to the controls. "You changed your clothes," Tifa observed in the quiet of the ship.

"I was reminded of why I liked the Organization's coat," Riku replied as he took a seat and started up the ship's engines, doing a pre-flight check, "What I was wearing is appropriate for the beach, but this is a war." Once the check was started up, Riku turned his chair partially to look at Cloud, then Tifa, and said, "I suppose Squall doesn't know that you two can't stand me - or maybe he doesn't care. But either way, the feeling is mutual, but that won't stop me from doing my part."

Tifa shook her head slightly as she stepped forward to take the seat to Riku's left, "I trust that you'll watch our backs," she said, leaning around to look at his face, "We won't let you down either."

Cloud didn't answer verbally, just gave a brief nod, and Riku was forced to be satisfied with that. Turning, he checked over the results of the pre-flight test and set his hands to the controls, taking note of the others ships as they turned, heading for the path that would lead them back to Radiant Garden.

Setting the ship in motion, Riku followed the others.

* * *

_AN: Hooray, got this done in time, despite distractions. Hm, and as per Becca's request, next chapter should be up on Monday, if all goes well. I'm on a Monday-Thursday updating schedule, but this is subject to change, since school does come first and I think I've got a paper due soon. X.X; I really should get to work on that. Bleh. I might make an update on the website soon too! Put a pretty pic of Riku wearing his new outfit on there... hehe._

_Next Chapter: Mickey learns that those who are lacking coordination should not juggle eggs._


	63. Baskets and Eggs

_Chapter 63_

_(Baskets and Eggs)_

Kaiyou had never liked waking up.

It had always meant that another day of emotional abuse was beginning – another day of torment that she couldn't escape. Opening her eyes anyway, Kaiyou stared up at the ceiling.

_'How'd I get back to my room? ...what happened?'_

Umi answered, _'Someone attacked the piece of your heart that you gave Sora.'_ She sounded worried. _'They stopped, but I can't tell what's happened to Sora... Perhaps if you tried?'_

Rolling her head on the pillow in a negative gesture, Kaiyou slowly pushed herself up onto her elbows. "I'm too tired right now, Umi. I can't." Not only was she lying in bed, she was fully clothed except for her shoes and side-packs, the latter of which were set on the floor next to the bed. Looking to her left, she found that a chair had been pulled close to the bedside, but no one was there now.

She shoved the blankets aside and set her feet on the floor, scrubbing her face. The clock said it was a little past eight. Breakfast was probably being served. Likely someone would come to check on her soon. "I want a bath," Kaiyou decided, feeling more than a little grimy. Getting to her feet, she swayed slightly before regaining her balance and making her way carefully to the bathroom in her suite of rooms. Maybe by the time she got out, they'd be done with breakfast and she could sneak down and get something to eat without being bothered – or causing a fuss.

"I cause everyone so many problems," Kaiyou sighed softly as she began undressing. However, before she'd gotten more than a few buttons of her shirt undone, she stopped. "My necklace! It's gone!"

Putting her clothes back in order, Kaiyou ran from the bathroom, over to her bed, where she began tearing it apart, hunting through the sheets. No luck - after dropping every blanket in a pile on the floor, Kaiyou turned and ran from the room, sliding across the floor in her socks as she ran flat-out for the balcony she and Riku had been on when she'd blacked out. That was the only other place she could think of that she could have lost it. At the top, she dropped to her knees and started searching across the floor, tears blurring her vision as she hunted desperately.

Finally, her search brought up one result... a piece of chain about half an inch long, links broken on either end.

"Oh god, Umi, I lost it!" Kaiyou sobbed, "It's gone..."

"Aros?"

Starting, Kaiyou sat up from where she'd crumpled against the floor, pressing her eyes against her arm-sock to blot her tears. Looking back at Goofy, she shied away from him as he stepped closer and kneeled beside her. "Gawrsh, Aros," he said, taking the piece of chain she'd been clutching. "That necklace sure meant a lot to you, didn't it?" was his obvious observation. Before Kaiyou could say anything to him, he pulled her against his chest, patting her back lightly, "There-there, it's alwright to cry, y'know."

His tender comfort broke her tenuous hold and lifting her arms, Kaiyou put them around his neck, clutching him as she cried, "It's the only thing I had – from before I lost everything, Goofy, I've always had it!" she explained brokenly.

Falling silent for a long moment, Goofy just hugged her, sitting on the cold floor like comforting silly little girls was something he did every day. Kaiyou could do little else but cry on him till she felt dried out and tired again. At least an hour had passed before she stopped and lifted her head. "I – I never apologized to you and Donald," she said softly, "For not telling you that I wasn't Sora..."

Shaking his head, Goofy smiled at her, "Gawrsh, Aros, I forgive ya! Ya meant well, and that's what counts!" Placing his hands on her shoulders, he gently squeezed them, then added more soberly, "Ya need t' let go of the past. Otherwise, it might choke ya."

_'Strange how such wisdom comes from apparent idiots,'_ Umi commented.

_'Goofy's not an idiot,'_ Kaiyou defended, then looked up at Goofy once more and said, "You're...right. I guess clinging to the things that hurt me is... stupid and self-destructive, isn't it?"

"Gawrsh, I dunno about that, Aros, but if you say so..." Goofy admitted, putting a finger to his mouth as he thought on it. "But I followed ya up here t' see if ya wanted anything t' eat."

Looking down and away, Kaiyou stared off across the floor, "Not that hungry now," she admitted, "I think... I'm just going to go take a bath." Getting to her feet, she looked down at him, "Thank you, for being nice to me..."

Climbing to his feet as well, Goofy straightened, his ears swaying as he spoke, "Nah! Like I said, Aros, you're a good person. Everyone makes mistakes from time to time, and yers didn't hurt anyone." Placing a hand on Kaiyou's shoulder, Goofy shook her slightly, "so smile now and then!"

"I can't right now," she admitted, "I'm sorry."

Stepping in, she hugged him again, then took back the piece of her necklace chain she'd found. Heading back to her room, she carefully shut the door and turned, heading to the night stand where she put the piece of chain into one of her side-packs. With that, she headed back to the bathroom to get on with washing up.

* * *

He found her in the garden, seated in the grass with her feet tucked under her, skirt flared out around her. Someone had braided her hair on the sides, pulling it back from her face, the rest bound into a loose bun on the back of her head, held up by a lace net. The morning light flickered through the greenery she sat beneath, a light breeze sending the petals of a nearby cherry tree into the air like a snow storm around her. 

Kosuiko gave these petals no notice, just dusted them from her lap occasionally, and even as Demyx approached, she didn't seem to notice him. Her gaze was locked on the balcony of one of the towers, and following her eyes towards it, Demyx spotted what she was looking at.

"My heart," Kosuiko said softly in a distant voice, "She hurts, yet there is nothing I can do to help her... to help myself..." Taking a breath, Kosuiko sighed softly and blinked, lowering her gaze and turning her head to look at Demyx, "All I can do is wait for her to fix herself - reassemble the pieces, but I don't like to wait. I've waited so long already, haven't I?" Tipping her head slightly, Kosuiko's lips pulled into a slight smile as she regarded Demyx. "You too, have been waiting, I suppose."

Stunned by this strange change in Koko, Demyx could do little but stand there, staring at her. "You - you're not Koko."

She smiled once more, "No," she agreed and got to her feet slowly and turned to face him, hands by her sides, chin lifted to look up at him with far more life in her eyes than he'd ever seen before. She was ...beautiful.

"I am paving the way for the eventual merge of Kosuiko's personality and Aros's," she said, then looked back up at the balcony Aros was on, picking at a guitar and frequently retuning it. "While I don't approve of what you've done with our body, I do realize that on some level, you do actually care for Kosuiko. I will erase the memories that Aros doesn't need to know, but in exchange... I will attempt to talk Aros into assisting you in completing yourself."

Looking down for a moment, Demyx sighed and shook his head, lifting a hand to run through his faux hawk and said, "I guess... it's fair. She's got enough to remember as it is." Lifting his eyes, he looked up at the balcony once more. "Alright, Umi, it's a deal."

Nodding, she started forward, walking past him with far more grace than he'd ever seen Kosuiko walk with.

She glided like gentle waves along the sand, steps sure and controlled.

He stayed in place, watching till she was out of sight around the hedges, then sighed. "Well - even if she said she'd talk to Aros... I'd better make my case in person too." With a goal in mind, Demyx turned, heading the way Koko had gone - there was no sign of her on the balcony-hall as he got there. "Probably gone off to find Kairi or something," he remarked. Koko had taken a liking to the other girl, not that Demyx really blamed her. Turning, he headed towards the stairs that would take him up to the balcony Aros was currently occupying.

* * *

Closing her eyes, Kaiyou tipped her head back, feeling the wind caress her damp skin, having not really bothered to dry off much after her bath. Her hair was still wet and hanging in clumps around her head, dripping on her shoulders as she brooded in relative silence. 

But the wind whispered in her ear.

It wouldn't let her mind be still. Thoughts kept sneaking up from the depths, crawling into her conscious mind - but disappearing like smoke when she turned the spotlight of her attention on them. So there it was. All she could do was try to think of nothing and wait for these poor fragments to gather enough strength to stand and let her examine them.

Her fingers, meanwhile, touched the strings of the guitar, bringing out soft notes that had no rhythm or melody, but served as counterpoints to the breathing of the wind in her ear.

_"Hold it like this,"_ he said from where he sat behind her, speaking into he ear, his dark curls intruding on her peripheral vision. She didn't dare turn her head to look at his strong profile. He'd always been nothing but sharp angles. She'd thought he would be hard and cruel, like everyone else in her life had been. But his voice, his large hands, which now covered hers proved that he was a gentle giant.

_"That's right," _he encouraged,_ "Put your fingers here... that's the D chord."_

Setting her fingers carefully, Kaiyou opened her eyes and stared down at her hands - they were alone in holding the guitar in her lap, but she could have sworn she'd had company a second ago. The voice in her head wasn't Sora's, or Roxas's... it was another male voice. Warm, soothing...

_"Now, strum – haha, you're good at this!"_ Unable to help it, a smile pulled her lips even as tears stung her eyes, warmth filled her heart, akin to the fluttering she'd been feeling whenever she was around Riku.

From nowhere, the words came to her, and Kaiyou softly sang, "...been through the desert on a horse with no name, it felt good to be out of the rain..." She changed chords and continued with the chorus of the song, "In the desert, you can remember your name, 'cause their ain't no one for to give you no pain..."

_'Yeah, that song describes me quite well,'_ Kaiyou realized as the memories faded.

"Where'd you learn to play guitar?" Demyx asked.

Starting, Kaiyou's hands produced a discordant twang as she turned to look at him, quite unsure of how long he'd been standing there with his hands on his hips, listening in silence. She stared at him with wide eyes, unsure of what to say at first, then finally blurted, "Someone taught me."

Coming closer, Demyx took a seat next to her on the balustrade, apparently unafraid of falling off, "Who?" he asked, putting on a smile that she knew wasn't real, but he was trying and that had to count for something, Kaiyou supposed as she stared at him.

She shook her head and said the first name that came to mind.

"Rick."

Eyes widening, Kaiyou looked down at her hands on the guitar.

_"It wasn't your fault."_

_"But I was driving!"_

_"It's not your fault."_

Abruptly, Kaiyou got to her feet, "Don't ask me questions. I don't know you and I don't like you. Leave me alone!" turning, she stalked off, tears in her eyes as she went to find somewhere to cry alone.

She was intercepted by Kosuiko, who practically threw herself at Kaiyou. "Why are you sad?" Koko demanded to know. "You make my chest hurt, Aros!"

"Get off me!" Kaiyou replied, shoving her Body aside, "Go play with Kairi or Demyx or something, I don't care! Just go away!"

* * *

Stranded. 

That's what they were.

The mad dash out of the strange white castle had been a hellish ride for the boy. Zack had frequently had to drop him to the floor to clear the area of those black critters and white rubber-men. But it had in all honestly, only taken a few minutes to get back to his ship. Then it had taken several more minutes to get his ship to actually start working again. It had hit the ceiling of the docking bay on liftoff, and scraped along it the entire length of it before finally escaping out into open air. After an uncertain moment, Zack had then fired the boosters and taken off in a completely random direction as fast as he could trying to get away from that strange world of darkness.

Now however...

Zack sighed softly as he eyed the controls of his ship. None of them were giving any indication that they had any power, and, well, he'd been trying for the last hour to get them to work. However, nothing he tried was working. "At least the lights haven't gone off," Zack said to his companion, turning to look at the boy who sat in the chair to his left, head sagging forward, eyes open, but staring blankly. "Shouldn't sit like that," he said and reached over to pull Sora's head up once more, "You'll get a kink in your neck." Zack sat back in his own chair and linked his hands behind his head, putting his feet up on the controls and buttons in front of him and crossed his ankles. Not like it mattered if he abused them or not.

"I bet Tseng didn't bother to put food in this thing too. Just like he forgot to put gas in it," Zack laughed lightly. "What a fate! Saved from a mad scientist only to get stranded out in space." Turning his head, he looked at Sora again and added, "Guess I should have known I wasn't the first to get into space."

With his head tipped back now, Sora was able to see a lot more of the area around him. However, it still swirled with colors that weren't natural, and as he slowly made his eyes turn, those hues swirled like liquid. _'Perhaps the colors are in my eyeballs?'_ Sora supposed, his mind finally beginning to function even if his body wasn't quite cooperating with him.

"Ha! You looked at me!" Zack said cheerfully, "I think you're getting better, hey? Won't be long before you're on your feet again, I'm sure!"

_'He's a lot like Dad...'_ Sora realized. _'Those two would get along great. I think Cloud and Squall might join forces to spike this guy and Dad to a wall or something, though.'_ The thought was amusing enough to make Sora's lips twitch slightly as he stared at Zack.

"And you just smiled!" Zack added, "So you agree," he nodded, then looked out the front window again. "Well, at least we're still moving forward," he admitted, "so maybe we'll hit a planet?"

_'So optimistic,'_ Sora thought, _'He's probably quite worried...'_

"So what's your name?" Zack asked, "Tseng never told me what your name was." He waited a moment for Sora to respond, then sighed, "You remind me a lot of Cloud. I think it's your hair," Zack laughed once more.

_'Ahha. I knew it! He came from Radiant Garden. His sword looks like the ones Cloud uses and his clothes are kind of like Cloud's too,'_ Sora could do little more than gurgle at the other man, who'd not introduced himself either. So there they were, two strangers in a dead ship, stranded out in the middle of space with a very angry set of individuals behind them that, once they realized that Sora was gone, would be on the hunt for this very ship.

"Maybe," Zack said, "Your name's on your underwear?" as he turned a grin on Sora.

Quite amused, Sora gurgled a laugh.

"Ahha! You've got a sense of humor!" Zack announced, laughing as well. "Cloud only occasionally had a sense of humor," he admitted, then put his feet on the floor with a heavy thump, then stopped, "That bag is glowing..." Getting to his feet and heading over, he picked up Sora's side-pack and opened it, "No, the book inside it is glowing."

Eyes widening, Sora gurgled at Zack as he pulled the book out and flipped to the glowing pages, "Can't read a word of this." Looking at Sora, who was twitching in effort to communicate somehow, Zack stepped back over to the young man, "Can you read it?"

Turning his eyes up towards Zack - the only piece of his anatomy he'd gotten any control over - Sora mumbled, "uughha."

"Was that 'uh-huh'?" Zack asked.

"Uhg-uh!" Sora agreed.

Looking at the writing once more, Zack shrugged, "I'll take your word for it. Maybe it'll help you or something." A piece of paper fell from the book, and bending down to pick it up, Zack looked it over, "Well, I can read this at least. It's a song." Turning back towards Sora, he held the book down to the young man at eye-height. Smiling, he said, "Just tell me when to flip the page!"

"Ughah..." Sora mumbled, the best he could really do at the moment and turned his eyes towards the opened pages of Kaiyou's diary.

* * *

Sora found himself standing in that white space again, the familiar snow crunching beneath his feet and floating around him. Now, the shapes of strange stones were even more distinct, since the last time he'd been here. It was an unsettling place. He could almost recognize it - no... 

Looking around, Sora turned slowly. "I do recognize this," he decided, removing the blanket of snow in his mind's eye. "Yes. It's the play island," he decided.

The air rippled, melting long enough for Umi to step out. Her gaze was calm as she walked towards him, her lips, however, were twitching towards the slightest of smiles. "I won't fight you this time," she told him, lifting a hand to touch his cheek as she tipped her head slightly, "You don't look well. However, just because you don't have to fight for this one doesn't mean it will be an easy one for Aros to deal with."

Returning Umi's steady gaze, Sora replied, "You mean Kaiyou. Aros is my sister, isn't she?"

Pausing, Umi blinked at him, "How did you figure that out?"

"Riku said Aros was a she. ...and Gary keeps teasing me with Kaiyou's name, and I know Kaiyou is my sister, and Kaiyou talks about you. She said you're her Sarcastic Voice."

Umi snorted, "Indeed, she does say that about me."

"Then I'm right," Sora stated, "Aros is Kaiyou, and Kaiyou is my sister and you're..." he paused, "You're not her Nobody, are you?"

"No. I am still part of her," Umi replied.

"Your voice is stronger now," Sora added, "You don't sound like you're talking to me from the bottom of a well."

Pausing as she looked away, Umi answered, "Yes. The more memories she gets back, the closer your bond to her is."

"So that's why she came to my rescue like that?"

"From several paths away, yes," Umi agreed. "And why you felt her distress when the book was stolen by Reno."

Sora groaned, "And he was right there in front of me with it..."

Umi shook her head, "It's a moot point now. They've had plenty of time to study it. Kaiyou will just have to come to terms with that." Again, she touched him, her fingers lightly brushing down his arm, as if reassuring herself that he was there and alright. "Where are you now, Sora?" she asked, a hint of vulnerability creeping into her voice.

Unable to answer in much detail, Sora replied, "I'm not sure. After Xemnas tried to saw the bracer off me, a man with black hair came running in and broke some stuff and carted me out. He talks a lot. He says I remind him of Cloud. I can't seem to say anything back to him though. It's like my body just won't respond." Sora shook his head. "I feel really tired here, too," he admitted.

Touching his face again, Umi stepped forward, putting her arms around him, "If you need strength, just call on Kaiyou, she - and I - will send you everything we've got."

A smile touched his lips and he lifted his arms, returning Umi's unexpected embrace. "Not everything I hope," he replied, "That might hurt you. I'll try to see where this guy's taking me - try to say something to him. Where's Kaiyou now?"

"At Disney Castle."

"I'll get him to take me there, then," Sora reassured.

Stepping back, Umi lifted her hand to her necklace and pulled it off. "Be careful," she told him, "And get better. You really look awful."

Laughing softly, Sora took the necklace from her, squeezing her hand before letting go, "You're starting to get more personality too," he observed. "Or is it just that I've gotten your approval?"

"...perhaps both," Umi admitted. "Go now." She gestured, and turned, walking back through her ice-portal.

The light waxed brighter until he was forced to close his eyes.

When Sora opened them again, he found himself in a hospital room. The air was still and quiet except for the humm of machines and the soft beeping of the heart monitor. And there, lying on the bed, was Kaiyou. Her face was pale, she had wires snaking down the neck of her hospital gown, tubes in her nose, and an IV in the back of her hand. His own heart jumping a beat, Sora stepped closer, realizing that Kaiyou was clutching her necklace with the hand not plugged into some machine or other. How she'd managed to retain that piece of jewelry, he didn't know, but was glad for it.

Stepping closer, he carefully perched on the edge of her bed. He would have moved faster, but he felt worn thin. Taking her limp and plugged right hand, Sora whispered, "Kaiyou..." It was the quiet of the room that made him reluctant to speak louder.

Her eyelids flickered.

Rubbing her hand gently between his, Sora tried to warm her fingers. The movement awoke her finally, and her eyes opened - but they were more than a little unfocused. She was probably on some sort of pain medication. She looked so pale against the sheets. "...big brother," she whispered. Her form, this time, looked fairly close to the age she currently was. Sora guessed her to be perhaps fifteen. "...you look like I feel," she murmured, slurring slightly.

"Yeah," Sora said, "You don't look too hot either. What happened?"

"...I was in a car wreck. But why are you here?" Kaiyou answered, then her eyes watered, her gaze getting more focused as the pain medications wore off. "...Rick..." she said softly, "I got him hurt. That's why you're here."

Sora shook his head, but was stopped from saying anything as the door opened.

A middle aged woman with graying red hair stepped in. Her large brown eyes were rimmed with red and puffy, her nose rubbed raw and dry from nose-blowing. She still carried a box of tissues with her and by the look on her face, she was going to need them again fairly soon. "Oh baby," she whispered, coming closer to Kaiyou's bedside. Her eyes briefly glanced up towards the space Sora occupied, but he was sure she hadn't seen him. After all, he wasn't really there.

Reaching out, the redheaded woman put her box of tissues aside and cupped Kaiyou's face, "Oh baby," she said softly, "You're alright - the doctors said you were alright, but you looked so awful!" she kissed Kaiyou's forehead several times, watering the poor girl with fresh tears.

"Lisha," Kaiyou said softly, her lips still refusing to cooperate and form into clear words. "Where's Rick?"

Biting her lip as she broke into a sob, Lisha shook her head, "Baby, he ..." she brushed Kaiyou's hair back from her face. "He died on impact," she managed to say. "There wasn't anything they could do - they're lucky they got _you_ out of that..." Pulling the only chair in the room over, Lisha took a careful seat, hand trembling as she reached for a tissue.

Kaiyou stared at her foster mother, unable to quite comprehend what she'd been told. Her hand tightened on her necklace. "...Lisha... Rick's dead?" Kaiyou asked finally. Lisha nodded. "I ..._I_ killed Rick?" she whispered.

"No - no baby!" Lisha got to her feet again, even though she was crying her eyes out. She showered Kaiyou's face with kisses and tears, "No. No - you didn't do anything wrong, Kaiyou!" she insisted, but Kaiyou wasn't listening.

Closing her eyes, Kaiyou had apparently wrapped herself in misery. Sora could tell that even if he said anything at this point, he wouldn't be listened to either. So he sat silent, watching the scene, absorbing the information in it for the next time he saw Kaiyou. "Stop," Kaiyou whispered, "Stop it - how can you not blame me?" she asked, "I was driving - I must not have looked!"

Lisha sat back, shaking her head, "No, Kaiyou, no. It's not your fault! The truck driver was drunk. You did nothing wrong!"

"But Rick's dead," Kaiyou insisted, "if - if I hadn't begged..."

"You had your permit with you, he was an adult. Kaiyou, please listen to me, it's not your fault!" Lisha insisted, then shook her head, "Oh honey, you're burning up." She wiped at Kaiyou's forehead with her fingers. "Do you hurt? Do you need more pain killers?"

"No amount of meds could fix this," Kaiyou replied, closing her eyes, her own tears finally sliding out from beneath her lashes.

Lisha shook her head again, pulling a tissue to wipe at Kaiyou's eyes. "Don't talk like that," she admonished, but very softly, "He wouldn't want you to give up living just because he's gone."

"But I killed him," Kaiyou stated flatly, then sniffled.

Pulling Kaiyou's oxygen tubes from her nose, Lisha held a tissue there, "Blow," she ordered.

Unable to disobey, Kaiyou did so, then sniffled again. But she gave no more arguments; just lay with her eyes closed. "I want to sleep," she said instead.

Hesitating, Lisha swallowed, then took a breath and said, "Child Services called... They reviewed your case... Richard and I have been trying to adopt you for some time now - but the paper work is so screwed up..." Lisha paused, "Oh Kaiyou - they're taking you back. We're trying to fight the decision, but..."

Even though Kaiyou's expression didn't change, Sora knew well enough that Kaiyou's heart had just broken once again.

"I want to sleep," Kaiyou repeated, voice valiantly steady.

Lisha stroked the girl's forehead gently, then leaned down and kissed her. "We won't stop fighting for you, Kaiyou. Those reports were wrong. You're an angel." She kissed Kaiyou again. "I'll be back later."

"Bring my diary," Kaiyou requested, keeping her eyes closed. Sora knew it was probably to hold back tears.

Nodding, Lisha kissed her yet again, then finally, reluctantly, retreated from the room.

"I want to die," Kaiyou said once the door had closed again.

Lifting her gaze up towards Sora, she broke into a sob, "I want to die!"

Sora shook his head, "You promised you wouldn't kill yourself," he reminded, "so we could meet in person, someday."

"Someday!" Kaiyou snapped, "Never, you mean!"

"Soon, I mean," Sora replied calmly. "Kaiyou," he leaned forward, touching her face gently with his fingers, still holding her other hand. "I know it hurts, but you'll have a family soon. Your _real_ one. Not just a foster family. I know it hurts now, but you have to live, so we can meet. For now, though, you'll forget. But you'll remember again, and when you do, remember what Lisha said. She loves you like a daughter. And Rick's death wasn't your fault."

"But I was driving," Kaiyou insisted. The machine beside her beeped softly.

"And the other guy was driving drunk," Sora insisted right back. "You can't control other people's actions, Ki'you. His choice destroyed a lot of lives - but don't blame yourself for it."

"...I loved Rick," Kaiyou whispered.

"I love you too," Sora replied.

Sniffling, she looked away, "Not like _that_ you don't."

Unable to help the slight smile that curved his lips, Sora stroked her hair, "No. That'd be kinda gross. Kaiyou," he gently turned her head to make her look at him, "Promise me something?"

"I don't want to," she muttered, her speech was getting slurred again.

"Promise me you'll quit taking the blame for other people's actions," Sora continued, disregarding her reply.

For a long moment, Kaiyou remained silent.

"Promise me, or I'll do something to make you laugh, and wouldn't _that_ be embarrassing?" Sora threatened.

Flashing a scowl at him, Kaiyou replied, "Your sense of humor isn't appreciated at this time."

"Then promise me."

"Fine!" Kaiyou snapped. "I promise."

Sora nodded. "I'll hold you to it," he told her.

"You're just a hallucination brought on by medications and my own split personality," Kaiyou replied, looking more and more fatigued.

"But if you can't keep a promise to your 'imaginary' brother," Sora quoted.

Returning her gaze to him, eyes watering, she asked in a soft whisper, "Will I really forget?" Her hold on her emotions was slipping as her recently administered pain medications started to take effect.

"Not forever. But at least for now," Sora replied, "Promise." Petting her hair again, Sora smiled, "When you do remember, though, you'll remember that I was here too. Now get some rest. Get better. You have to live through at least another year to meet me. How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"Yep, a year," Sora smiled, "Just one more year and we'll get to be together. Promise."

Kaiyou looked away, then closed her eyes. Sora lowered his hand from her hair and replaced her oxygen tube. "Sleep well," he whispered and kissed her forehead. She was already asleep again, though. Deciding that he really had no pressing reason to return to his body just yet, remained where he was, holding her hand even as she clutched her necklace with the other.

During the time that Sora sat there, Lisha returned and set Kaiyou's diary on the table beside the hospital bed. Taking a seat in the only chair in the room, the woman folded her arms under her ample breasts and sighed softly, dabbing her eyes with a tissue from time to time. Sora watched her silently, and on impulse, said, "Thank you for caring for her. I appreciate it."

Surprisingly, Lisha's head lifted and she looked around, but she said nothing and eventually returned to watching Kaiyou.

"Hmm," Sora murmured, then sighed, looking back towards Kaiyou. "Suppose I should go now..." But the effort seemed like a very monumental task. However, he found the reserves to let go of Kaiyou's hand, then reached up to her other hand. "Good bye for now, Ki'you. I'll see you in a year. Promise."

"Rick?" Lisha whispered.

"No, I'm Sora," he replied absently as he tried to pick open Kaiyou's death grip on her necklace. "Oh, let go, will you? I can't stay here forever..."

Another hand covered his and Sora lifted his gaze to look at Lisha as she opened Kaiyou's fingers. "So she's only got a year left..." Lisha whispered.

"What?" Sora blinked, "Can you see me then?"

"Poor girl... I'll miss her so much," Lisha had finally succeeded in getting Kaiyou to let go of her necklace and Sora was abruptly dumped to the floor.

"Ow..." except it hadn't really hurt. That had just seemed like the right thing to say.

"Clumsy guardian angel," Lisha mused sadly and sat down again.

The world turned white around Sora.

* * *

Having finally finished crying herself out in her room, Kaiyou lifted her eyes, looking at the clock on the opposite wall. It was dinner time, or well, a little past. Yet no one had come to get her. 

_'Wash your face,'_ Umi instructed.

Nodding, Kaiyou got off the bed, heading for the bathroom, _'I did tell them to leave me alone, so maybe it's my fault they didn't come get me...'_ After rinsing her face off, she dried it with the hand towel beside the sink, then stared at herself in the mirror.

_"Kaiyou - punch it!"_ Rick had shouted as they'd reached the middle of the intersection.

"I hesitated," she said. "But the truck driver was speeding. He had a stop sign too." Taking a breath, she focused her gaze on her own eyes, "I wasn't doing anything illegal. I had a permit. Rick was an adult." Her throat closed as she leaned on the sink counter, trying to hold back a fresh bout of tears. Taking a breath, she lifted her head again and looked in the mirror once more, "And it's Riku that reminded me of him. This feeling - it's how I felt about Rick... even if I knew he didn't love me the same way. To him, I was just his little sister. Nothing more. And I'm probably nothing more to Riku either."

There.

She'd spoken the truth.

That didn't mean she felt better, but at least she'd said it.

_'I'm proud of you,'_ Umi said gently and as Kaiyou stared in the mirror, a ghostly, blonde version of herself gave her an ethereal hug before disappearing once more. _'I don't have anything with which to give myself a physical presence - like Roxas. So that's the best I can do,'_ Umi explained. _'But I am proud that you've decided to not blame yourself for what happened to Rick.'_

Kaiyou shook her head, "If I hadn't begged to drive... we wouldn't have taken the back roads. We wouldn't have been there."

Lowering her eyes, she stared at the sink, it was very clean. Spotless, in fact. "But Sora was right. I have no control over what anyone else does."

Silence fell as Kaiyou took a moment longer to force herself to believe Sora. "He looked so sick..." she said, "But he's alive at least."

_'Yes, he's alive. He told me he was rescued by a guy with black hair that talks a lot. Apparently, he also knows Cloud.'_

Nodding at that, Kaiyou pushed off the sink finally and turned, heading out of the bathroom, "I suppose I should tell the others," she admitted, though she wasn't sure if she'd, by proxy, be admitting that she'd gotten another piece of her heart back. The thought wasn't comforting. _'The closer I am to whole, the more useful I become as a tool. Almost makes me want to just... stay broken.'_

Unsettled, Kaiyou headed down the stairs and down the halls to the dining room. She'd been put into one of the tower rooms. Away from every one else, she suspected. The thought made her sick. _'I'm not diseased...'_

Reaching the dining room door, Kaiyou found three things. First, the dining room door was open. Second, dinner was already well underway. Third... and most importantly, most of the people who'd been there at lunch were now missing. It was easier to count who was left, rather than who'd disappeared. Kairi looked up from her plate and tried a smile at Kaiyou.

Kosuiko just dropped her fork and rubbed her chest, apparently getting echoes of Kaiyou's immense irritation. At Koko's actions, Demyx looked over at her and started to tell her to eat again, then followed Kairi's gaze to the door. Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy were still happily eating until they realized what the others had noticed.

"Aros," Minnie greeted, "Are you feeling better now? Demyx said you looked like you'd gotten sick earlier."

"...I'm fine," Kaiyou said slowly, eyes narrowing, "So Dad left without me." _'And didn't even bother telling me bye!'_ The real question, though, was _when_ they'd left. They'd certainly had plenty of time to pack up and go while she'd been passed out earlier and then when she'd been crying over Rick...

Mickey shook his head a little sadly, but Kaiyou read it as patronizing, "Aros, it's just too dangerous for you-"

Her fury exploding into words, Kaiyou shouted, "Don't give me that!" Her interruption of the king made everyone else draw back, wide-eyed. Far too furious to put anything else into words, Kaiyou turned away, intending to just head back to her room. _'To hell with dinner!'_

Kosuiko, however, shoved herself out of her chair hard enough to knock it over, "You're all so mean to her!" she accused and ran to Kaiyou, latching onto Kaiyou's hand, dragging her away.

To her surprise, Kosuiko dragged Kaiyou down the hall and up the stairs to Kaiyou's own room. But once there, she dropped Kaiyou's hand and stood there, tears trailing down her face. "I don't like it when they hurt you - it makes me hurt too!" Koko said. "I wish they'd stop it!"

Expression softening, Kaiyou stepped closer, wrapping her arms around her Body, "I wish they'd stop it too," she admitted, "but they're not going to." Still distressed, Koko sniffled and didn't return Kaiyou's hug. Stepping back and looking at her Body's face, Kaiyou said, "Can I brush your hair?"

Apparently that was a good fix for the situation, for Kosuiko's eyes brightened and she nodded. Leading Koko back to the bed, Kaiyou kicked her shoes off and took a seat behind her. Pulling her emerald studded comb out, Kaiyou started brushing gently.

"Guess if no one will invite me to _their_ girl parties, I'll just have to throw one by myself... with myself. God I'm confused."

Kosuiko giggled, but it sounded hollow to Kaiyou's ears.

"We should just leave," Kaiyou said, voice lowering slightly as she focused on combing those long silky locks. "To hell with Mickey and anyone else. They all just want to use me."

Falling silent for a moment, Kaiyou scowled, "I'm _not_ just an object!" Leaning forward, she wrapped her arms around Kosuiko's shoulders.

Confused, Koko patted her Heart's arm. She had no idea what was going on. She just knew that Kaiyou had a strange effect on her. Whenever Kaiyou was not happy - which was most of the time anyway - Koko's chest hurt. All Kosuiko really wanted was for the pain to stop. However, she had no idea of how to do that. She had no real experience with people who could actually feel emotions. Even her smiles and laughter were pale imitations of Demyx's attempts to look like he gave a damn about anything. So she was left, sitting rock still as Kaiyou cried on her, wishing she knew how to fix this. If she'd just had more experience with emotions, Kosuiko would have known what word best described the situation: Hopeless.

Sitting back, Kaiyou wiped her face with her arm sleeve and took a few breaths, "Been crying all day. I need to stop it," she admonished herself. Shuffling in her side-pack, she dumped out the contents of them on the bed. Her camera, the prize from Dagger's Coronation Fair, her hairclips... "How long have I been here and this is all I have?"

_'You've gotten more,'_ Umi replied, _'You just can't see it.'_

"You should go into motivational speaking, Umi," Kaiyou muttered.

Umi just snorted.

Picking up the rose clips, Kaiyou turned Kosuiko's head and used the comb to brush her Body's bangs back from her face. "Here. You wear them. I don't have enough hair to bother." With that, she clipped the roses into Koko's hair and smiled slightly. "You look cute," she said, then paused and snorted.

Stuffing everything back into her side-packs, Kaiyou got to her feet again, putting her shoes on once more. "You and I are leaving," Kaiyou stated, "Tonight. We're going to go find Sora. _He_ will protect us from our enemies _and_ our allies."

Kaiyou looked towards the door and winced, finding Kairi standing there, looking uncertain. "Aros - Take me with you!" Kairi said, surprising Kaiyou, and in the wake of her silence, the Princess of Heart continued, "I know what it's like to be just stuffed away because everyone thinks they've got to protect you." Kairi shook her head, "I hate it when they assume that just because I'm a girl, I can't fight!"

Gazing at Kairi in silence for a few more minutes, Kaiyou chewed her lower lip, "I guess they view you as an object too, huh?" Kairi nodded. "...You can fight?"

"I've got a Keyblade," Kairi replied.

"Alright." Looking at Koko, Kaiyou paused.

_'Don't worry about her. I can direct her when things get tough.'_

Nodding, Kaiyou held her hand out to Kosuiko and pulled her Body up beside her. "Alright. Let's go before the others think we're up to something. ...except how are we going to get out of here? Are there any ships left?"

Kairi grinned, "Already got that covered! I was going to leave already - but... I wanted to invite you first."

Pausing and eyeing Kairi, Kaiyou took a breath to say something, but Koko laughed, bouncing on her toes, "We can't break up the Flying Unicorn Justice League, after all!" she said.

"Right!" Kairi agreed, much to Kaiyou's amusement.

_'I don't believe this...'_ Kaiyou told Umi. _'They actually...think we're a team like the Gullwings or something.'_

"Let's go!" Kairi said and opened the door again, dashing off towards the stairs. Kaiyou, taking a breath, started off as well, still holding Kosuiko's hand. At the bottom of the stairs, Kaiyou stumbled to a stop, nearly running into Kairi. Kosuiko tripped and fell against Kaiyou's side.

Looking down at the foot of the stairs, Kaiyou discovered why Kairi had stopped so abruptly.

Mickey stood blocking their way, arms outstretched. As if he really could stop three girls from kicking him in the head and moving on. _'Don't underestimate him,'_ Umi warned.

"Aros," the king said sternly.

"Don't even start!" Kaiyou interrupted once more, "I refuse to be just a tool and this place _isn't_ any safer than anywhere else in the universe! Or have you forgotten that _you_ got kidnapped from your own library?" Mickey was too shocked to reply, and Kaiyou stepped forward, past Kairi, and came to stop in front of Mickey, staring down at him. _'I really would like to punt him though...'_

"This place wouldn't be half as much of a target if I wasn't here, too," she pointed out instead.

Gearing up to say something, Mickey opened his mouth - but was interrupted yet again... by a female voice behind him.

"Let her go."

Partially turning, the king gaped back at his wife as Minnie floated forward, pink skirts lightly brushing the floor as she walked. "Let her go, Mickey," Minnie repeated. "For if you don't, she will resent us and never use her power to help us." Looking up at Kaiyou, Minnie continued, "You have every right to make up your own mind, Aros. Your heart may not have any Light or Darkness within it naturally, but you still have the ability to choose for yourself." Taking Mickey's hand, Minnie pulled him back a step, then another, out of Kaiyou's path.

Unable to exactly comprehend this sudden change of events, Kaiyou stared at Minnie, then took a breath and said the only thing that seemed appropriate. "Thank you."

After a second, Kaiyou added, "I was going to tell you earlier that Sora's alright. He's sick, but alive and safe enough for now. He said he got rescued by a guy with black hair that talks a lot and knows Cloud. But that's all I know."

Minnie nodded, "I'll be sure to tell them that when they return," she said, "Good luck, Aros."

Mickey sighed, looking down, "...be safe," he said.

Snorting, Kaiyou replied, "I'm a big girl, I can handle myself." _'Just not against Gary... I'll just have to avoid him.'_

Taking hold of Kosuiko's hand again, Kaiyou started forward, Kaiyou jogging along beside them. "But..." Koko objected as they reached the library door, "Where's Demyx?"

"Already onboard. I had him get the ship for us," Kairi replied and placed her hand on Kaiyou's shoulder, "Teleport us!" she called.

Closing her eyes in time, Kaiyou opened them again to find herself on yet another Gummiship. It was built about the same as the rest. Maybe a little smaller.

Demyx looked over and sighed in relief as he stood, "Wonderful, someone who actually knows how to drive this thing!" And with that, he abandoned the pilot's chair to Kaiyou as she came forward.

Hesitating briefly, Kaiyou sat and took the controls.

"Let's go to Twilight Town," she decided finally as Kairi took the co-pilot's seat with a bright grin. "I've got a message to give someone there."

"I haven't seen Hayner, Pence, and Olette in a long time, too," Kairi agreed.

"Alright, then it's off to Twilight Town," Kaiyou nodded and turned the ship, "this way! -I think?" But before anyone could say anything about her uncertain tone, she shot off towards the door, lips pulling into a grin.

* * *

_AN: Considering that I've got an English paper to write and I'm still uncertain on the topic, the next chapter update is postponed to next Monday instead of posting on Thursday. Sorry guys, but RL comes first.  
__Also, an amusing conversation between me and my mother about this chapter...  
__FrequencyQueen: So they've gone from having all their eggs in one basket to not having a basket at all.  
__Aloria: What do you mean? Kaiyou's a genuine basket case!_

_Next Chapter: A mystery - because I don't have anything written for it yet ;.;_


	64. Ruined City

_Chapter 64_

_(Ruined City)_

The place was a mess.

Buildings were burnt ruins, fallen over, caved in, destroyed...

Riku pressed his lips together as he stood on a cliff outside of the town, gazing down at the wreckage that had been Radiant Garden, a town just beginning to get back on its feet after years of oppression, destruction, war... a sooty breeze played in his hair, blowing it in his eyes. Above, black birds wheeled in the air, calling sullenly to each other in the lead-gray sky.

Cloud didn't look too pleased either as he stood beside Riku, Tifa on his other side. "Rufus will pay for this," the blonde stated and turned, "We'd better get going. Before we're seen."

It was nearly sunset now and Riku really wasn't looking forward to going through that mess in the dark. After all...

_'Afraid of the shadows now? How pitiful...'_

Blinking, Riku looked around, then partially turned to look back at Tifa and Cloud, the latter of which looked highly irritated at Riku's dawdling. "Come on, Riku," Tifa repeated, "It's this way."

Looking back towards the city briefly, Riku shoved a hand through his hair, feeling... unnerved even as he turned and jogged to catch up with the other two. Irritated and in a hurry, Cloud led the way down the broken and rocky path that would take them to the bottom of the gorge. Their teleport-in point had been different from the one Riku had used on his first visit to Radiant Garden - this one was on the other side of the city entirely with the iron tower Rufus had claimed from the late Ansem the Wise standing partially ruined on the far side. However, their entry point had given Riku the chance to see more of the town beyond what Squall and the others had restored, and what he saw worried him.

_'It's... almost like I recognize this place. I remember it yet I don't,'_ Riku shook his head slightly and narrowed his eyes, focusing on not tripping on the loose dirt and rocks that were on the narrow path. To his right was a sheer rock wall, to the left - open air. It was an unsettling position to be in, especially when he felt like everyone in the world could see him against the pale rocks. Ahead of him, Tifa slipped and skidded, but managed to regain her balance before sliding too far down the path. Cloud had gotten quite some distance ahead already and wasn't looking back to see that his companions were alright. Thankfully, it wasn't far to the bottom, and where it was safe to do so, Cloud leapt off and skidded down the slope to the cleared space below the cliff-path that led towards the remains of a chain-link fence that used to be at least fifty feet high. Now it was just sort of crumpled.

Cloud, without looking around, headed across the open area at a jog, a hand on the hilt of his sword in the sheath on his back. Not hesitating a moment, Tifa followed him, and with little choice, Riku chased after, still feeling like he was being watched.

_'Paranoid,'_ he told himself firmly and hurried after.

On the other side of the fence was what seemed like a whole different world; the sky was blocked out by a big metal plate, wreckage lay everywhere on the ground, mixed in with piles of refuse that stood at least fifteen feet high. Here, Cloud slowed, straightening and walking in a confident, dangerous saunter. At this pace, Riku was given plenty of time to look around.

The city, to his reckoning, used to be built on top of a giant disk supported above the ground by massive columns of steel and stone. It was a very precarious looking design, to Riku's mind. Beneath the floating pizza of a city were open spaces that had piles of garbage forming fifteen to twenty foot tall walls. Between those walls were "streets" and buildings made of rubble and possibly left over metal from the construction of the plate above. With no people here now, Riku could only guess what those buildings had once been based on their dilapidated signs. Currently, the city lay in ruins, parts of the upper plate broken and twisted out of recognition, stabbed into the earth at odd angles as if a giant had taken them and beaten the ground with them. Through the holes in the plate above, Riku could occasionally see that tall tower in the center of the city.

It gave him the chills.

Cloud took a right turn at an intersection of two "streets", continuing to walk as if he owned the place.

Riku paused, though, and took a sniff of the air.

"We're being followed," he announced, catching the scent of living decay creeping through the air towards them.

Stopping and looking back at Riku, Cloud frowned and looked like he was going to ask how Riku knew, then stopped, "Behind you," he said instead and pulled his sword from the strange sheath on his back.

Leaping aside, Riku barely missed getting pounced upon by a strange creature that looked like a cross between a man and a greyhound. It was man-sized with a rounded human-ish head but had the lean body and build of a dog. Unnerved by the thing's intelligent eyes, Riku called his Keyblade and fell back into a fighting stance as three more of the black-skinned spiny mutations slinked from the shadows.

Tifa and Cloud didn't hesitate a moment to leap into action, Tifa bringing up a foot to kick the first mutation in the throat as it came for her. With a sick snap, the thing went down and struggled on the ground for a moment before falling still. Cloud's sword swept around in an arc catching another mutation in the face with the sharp side. The third and fourth dodged aside from Tifa's rush towards them, then they split, going for a flanking maneuver on the party of three.

Why they thought they had a chance when their companions had gone down so easily, Riku didn't immediately know - but after a sniff of the air, he could make a good guess. Leaving Cloud and Tifa to deal with the two original mutations, Riku turned around, swinging his Keyblade instinctively - and caught one of the mutations in the face just as it was making a leap for Cloud's back.

Shoving the corpse aside, he spun away from an attack to his right side, but his retaliation strike was blocked by scaly armor and his Keyblade rang in his hand as he retreated to stand back to back with Cloud and Tifa as they were circled by the strange creatures. With three dead and their new allies, the enemy numbered six.

"No wonder," Riku muttered, "they attacked. They've got the numbers."

"We don't have the time to play games with them," Cloud replied, "Cut a path through them and run - we're almost there."

Riku nodded, and since he was facing the direction they needed to go, he leapt forward and threw out a hand, "Fire!" he shouted, using the Materia he still had equipped in his left wrist.

The explosion caught the creatures by surprise and fried one of them where it stood. The remaining five, apparently figuring that to be the cue to attack again, sprinted in, two going for Riku, two for Cloud, and one for Tifa. That, unfortunately, had been their mistake, for Tifa side-stepped the mutation attacking her, kicked it in the side with a bone-shattering blow, then followed up by grabbing its head and leaping over it. With a crack, it dropped to the ground dead and Tifa was already on the move to assist Riku as he was knocked to the ground by one of the creatures. Fighting with it to keep the beast from biting his throat, Riku got a knee between it and his own stomach and finally kicked the creature off and sent a volley of Twilight energy at it as it sailed through the air.

He didn't wait to see if he'd hit and swung his feet to get them under him just as Cloud, after having blocked the first two attacks from the creatures, stopped and stepped back. Briefly, his sword glowed, then he swung his blade, sending a blast of energy at the first creature to come running at him. Hit with the energy, the creature yelped and fell to the ground - the energy wave continued past it and hit the second, killing it as well.

Another crack and yelp from behind Riku had him turning to see that Tifa had taken care of the last of the initial six to attack them.

"Let's go," Cloud said and turned, heading off at a jog now.

Pausing before following, Riku took a moment to sniff the air.

There - faintly, Riku could sense the scent of his father. Vincent had been here, or was around here somewhere.

"Riku!" Tifa called, "hurry up!"

Turning and breaking into a jog, Riku caught up with the other two before they'd gotten too far ahead. "There're more of those things out and around," he informed the other two. "They're not Heartless, what _are_ they?"

Expression dark, Cloud explained, "They used to be people. They've been mutated by exposure to Mako and Jenova cells."

"Ah..." Riku said slowly, not really understanding.

Casting a smile at him, Tifa replied, "When we get there, we'll explain."

Having no choice but to take that answer, Riku nodded and focused his attention on running.

Hovering on the edge of his senses was the scent of darkness, creeping through the shadows, sulking and waiting for its chance to strike as they ran through the ruins of the slums of a city that was now filled with monstrous remnants of an age of abused technology.

Then, they broke into sunlight and Riku inadvertently slowed, throwing an arm up to shade his eyes. Tifa and Cloud seemed unbothered by the sudden change, but Riku felt that it was too bright for his tastes. After his eyes adjusted, he lowered his hand and looked around, finding a two story house that was in much better shape than anything else in the slums. Beyond the house was a stream of crystal clear water cascading down from a man-made wall and winding past and heading deeper into the slums. Past a bridge made of broken planks was, of all things, a thriving garden, butterflies flitting from one flower to another.

Ahead, Cloud and Tifa slowed to a brisk walk, heading for the front door of the house.

As for Riku, he really had no notion of where they were. He'd been present when Cloud had taken the call from Squall's ship and been told the coordinates to teleport down to, followed by a slightly vague order to go to Aerith's house. Apparently, Vincent hadn't bothered contacting everyone's ship, just Squall's. In a way, it made sense, but on the other hand... Riku couldn't help but feel that Vincent was trying to avoid him.

_'After the last things we said to each other...'_ Riku softly sighed, _'I really don't understand why I want his approval so much. I'm capable of being mature and responsible on my own, so why do I want him to smile at me so damn bad?'_

Irritated at the pain that stabbed his heart, Riku shoved those thoughts aside and followed Cloud and Tifa up to the front door. "Are we the first to get here?" Tifa asked as Cloud opened the door and stepped into the shadows beyond.

"Maybe," Cloud replied and led the way in, Tifa followed without hesitation, but Riku paused at the door and turned to look out at the rest of the area, his eyes scanning the shadows. However, all he could smell was the flowers, the sun-baked dirt, and the water. It was strangely fresh when all around this island of sunlight the city was a rotting corpse.

Shaking his head, Riku turned and stepped into the gloom of the house.

Inside, he could smell cut flowers, dust, and his father - and a disturbing undercurrent of fresh blood. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as he stepped in further and looked around, hunting for the source of the scent. It wasn't his father's blood, but that didn't make it any better. "Someone was killed in here," he told Cloud, following his nose to a corner.

The house's first floor was one room, a combined kitchen, dining room and living room with a flight of stairs on the other side. The floor was splintery wood, creaking underfoot as the three moved through the room. A dining table sat in the middle of the room with three chairs at it, the kitchen was devoid of dishes or food, all probably scavenged.

"Probably Vincent clearing out squatters," Cloud said dispassionately from where he stood in the kitchen, looking out the window over the sink.

Jerking straight, Riku looked over his shoulder at the blonde, eyes wide.

"Cloud..." Tifa said softly, frowning at her friend.

Turning partially, Cloud first looked at Tifa, then Riku, queerly glowing blue eyes meeting Riku's, and said nothing.

That silence, however, said far more to Riku than anything Cloud could have put into words.

_'Your father's a killer and he hid that from you,'_ the back of Riku's mind whispered. _'He's a cold blooded murderer and your life with him was a lie.'_

Pressing his lips together into a hard line, Riku was sure his gaze had turned cold and hard as he continued to stare into Cloud's eyes. Hurt and angry, the silver-haired young man turned, heading for the stairs and muttered something about checking upstairs.

"Cloud," he heard Tifa admonish again, "I know who he looks like, but that doesn't mean he _is_."

"He's living in a fantasy world," Cloud replied, "I'm just waking him up to reality. Before something happens to him. He's Vincent's son, and if anyone deserves a second chance... he probably does."

To that, Tifa said nothing.

_'Not that I've got much innocence left anyway,'_ Riku sourly thought as he carefully walked down the hall at the top of the stairs. There were two rooms here, bedrooms, he guessed, since there were beds. The bedding, however, was gone, leaving stained lumpy mattresses. The scent of his father was strongest in the second bedroom.

Downstairs, he heard the door open and slam shut again, "We're _here_!" Yuffie's energetic voice called cheerfully.

Taking a breath filled with his father's scent, Riku took firm control of his emotions and turned, heading back down the stairs and stated, "Upstairs is clear."

Cloud looked towards him and nodded, still standing in the kitchen where Riku had left him. Tifa looked guilty and wouldn't meet his eyes. She probably knew that he'd heard their brief conversation downstairs.

Squall, Yuffie, Aerith, and Cid had indeed arrived, and Riku turned towards them for a welcome distraction, despite the fact that Yuffie was bounding around the room excitedly. Aerith, when he glanced at her, gave him a smile that did little to brighten his mood and Riku looked away for some other distraction from his dark thoughts.

"The others should be here shortly," Squall informed them.

Shaking his head, Cid folded his arms, actually lacking a cigarette while he was in Aerith's house, "You kids have any trouble on the way in?" he asked.

Giving a slight shrug, Cloud replied, "Some Jenova-mutations, but nothing that was any trouble."

"There're a lot more these days then there were a few years ago," Yuffie complained, "What's with that anyway?"

Cid snorted, "Probably because we've been too busy restoring Radiant Garden to go around killing them off."

At that moment, the door opened again and Axel stepped in, followed by Laguna and Roxas. "Man!" the redhead complained, "Rather lot of monsters running around! You guys are slacking on your extermination duties!" he accused Cloud with a sneer. In reply, Cloud reached back for the hilt of his sword but was forestalled by Aerith's thump of a foot on the floor.

"Not in my house," she told him firmly and the blonde desisted, backing down, but only because the girl in pink had told him to.

Roxas shook his head as he came to stand near Riku - but not directly beside him, "Everyone's so high-strung," he sighed. Axel moved across the room to lean against the wall in the corner where Riku had smelled the blood - perhaps the Nobody could smell it too. _'Maybe he likes the smell,'_ Riku thought sourly.

Thankfully, before anyone had to answer Roxas's comment, the door opened again, this time admitting Yuna, Paine, Khimari, fairy-Rikku, and lastly, Vincent.

Unconsciously stiffening his posture, Riku folded his arms and stared off at one of the walls on the other side of the room. Whether Vincent noticed or not, Riku didn't know and told himself that he didn't want to know. _'It hardly matters. Just pretend that he's nothing more than a coworker or something.'_ His mental mantra didn't really help him feel any better, but at least it helped him grasp firm control of his emotions.

"Any problems?" Squall asked Yuna and her group.

"Just some really weird monsters!" Rikku replied, doing a back flip, then dart around the room - zipping past Riku to pull his hair and get away before he could react.

Irritated, he controlled the urge to go chasing after her like a juvenile and instead stated to her, "Oh, grow up."

Apparently hurt by his statement, Rikku pouted, folding her arms on her chest, "I was _just_ trying to cheer you up! You're always scowling! What's on your mind anyway?" she demanded, darting closer to hover in front of his face at eye-level. "Oh, _I_ know! You're worried about Aros, aren't you? I'm sure she's okay, you know. She's got everyone at Disney Castle to protect her!"

Riku's expression darkened as he stated, "Mind your own business."

"Gee! How rude!" she complained and flew away before her proximity caused Riku to do something rash like catch and squish her or something.

"We're here for a reason," Riku stated, "Not a vacation," turning to look at his father finally, he finished in a clipped voice, "so get on with it."

Vincent's red eyes were flat and blank, his mouth hidden behind the collar of his cape. However, even though he was fairly good at judging his father's mood by reading the signs of Vincent's posture, Riku couldn't quite tell what Vincent was feeling. Vincent certainly wasn't as calm as he outwardly looked. _'Probably knows that I can smell the blood in the room, even though he tried to clean it up. Probably wants to know what all Cloud and Tifa have told me about what he did in the past.'_

Red eyes narrowing slightly, Vincent looked away and began reporting, mostly to Squall and Cloud. "Rufus as spent the time we have been gone fortifying Ansem the Wise's castle and rebuilding it as well as working on moving the Junon Cannon. He has rounded up the remaining people from town and has forced them to work. They are watched over by Nobodies and Heartless that are apparently under Rufus's control... or the control of his newest general. I overheard Tseng and Rude speaking to each other about this new man. They called him Gary, but otherwise, they only know that he is another Prince of Darkness and can't get anything about his past."

Roxas frowned, "Gary is someone Aros knows," he answered, then paused before adding, "Sora said to kill that guy on sight."

Yuffie paused in her bouncing to blink, then nod, "Oh yeah, he _did_ say that. It was really creepy." She shivered.

Vincent waited a moment more for anyone else to add to the interruption, then continued, voice cool and bland, "Sephiroth has gotten Loz and Yazoo under his control once more and has been probing Rufus's defenses. I do not think the two of them are working together."

"That's a relief," Cid grunted, "We'd probably be in deep shit if they did team up."

Pausing a moment more, Vincent finished his report, "I do not believe Rufus has the full loyalty of all his Turks. I overheard Tseng and Rude speaking to each other about possibilities of defecting to our side. However, they decided that to do so would mean their death. They are apparently only working for Rufus in hopes of restoring Reno and Elena to their former selves, though they are beginning to lose hope of that possibility."

"Maybe we should try to get them on our side?" Yuffie suggested, Rikku flying over to the other thief's side as an energetic cheerleader, pumping her fist in the air.

"Yeah! That'd be great! Less people for us to fight!" Rikku agreed.

Tifa shook her head, "Even a year ago, the Turks weren't exactly our friends, even if we fought along side them."

Lifting his eyes after glancing aside, Cloud added, "I don't trust them. The fight against us may not have been personal, but they're still bound to Rufus by loyalty."

To Riku, this made perfect sense, and he added, "Then, if we meet them, we should probably give them a token fight then see if they'll let us go on our way."

Cloud nodded at that, "That's the best way to deal with them. When it comes down to it, they're not willing to die for Rufus." Yuffie and Rikku looked crestfallen, Yuna too, looked a little sad.

"I wish there was a way to avoid fighting them at all," the ex-Summoner said.

"Just avoid them," Aerith said, finally speaking up. "They're not bad people. I grew up with Tseng, in fact, and despite the things that have happened, I know that it's just his job."

Rikku huffed then spun around, "You know, since arriving on this world, I've been seriously confused about what happened here! I mean, this city - it's _so big_ but now it's ruins!"

The natives to the world of Radiant Garden all glanced at each other, then finally all turned to look at Cloud who sighed. "Why do I always end up getting nominated for these things?" he asked.

Tifa giggled softly behind her hand, "Because you're the leader."

"I didn't volunteer for it," Cloud replied, then shook his head, lifting a hand to scratch the back of his neck in a moment of shyness that Riku seriously hadn't expected.

Paying full attention to Cloud, Riku did glance over at his father, finding that Vincent was standing with his eyes downcast, his flesh right-hand balled into a fist. Almost as if he knew that Riku was staring at him, he lifted his eyes and looked at his son, then looked away again. _'He's angry, but he's not going to stop them from saying anything in front of me,'_ Riku decided.

"It started..." Cloud stopped, counting up the years, "about ten years ago," he finished, deciding that the exact amount of years really didn't matter. "The Shinra company, originally a power company, decided that just owning Midgar - this city - wasn't enough, and started taking over the world. Their army was headed by Sephiroth, the greatest SOLDIER in history." Cloud paused then shook his head, "All the boys wanted to be like Sephiroth and they ran to Midgar in droves... I did too, but I didn't make it in. A year after I left my hometown, Nibelheim, Sephiroth was sent on a mission to clear out some monsters that had popped up in the area - I was assigned as one of the regulars to accompany him and another First Class SOLDIER." Cloud looked away, frowning slightly before he continued, "That was where Sephiroth found out what he really was and went mad."

Hand against her heart, Yuna stepped forward slightly and asked, "What do you mean?"

Turning to look at her, the blonde answered, "He's not human - not fully anyway. Shinra's pet scientists had discovered a body they though was an Ancient, a Cetra. They used revived cells from that body to create a super-soldier. They didn't realize that Jenova wasn't a Cetra at all, but a parasite that rode in on a meteor that crashed into the planet over two thousand years ago. And Jenova wasn't really dead."

Yuna turned pale and stepped back, coming up against Khimari. Axel snorted softly as he listened, arms folded as he stared at the floor. Riku glanced around, realizing that there were plenty of people in the room that this information was new to. He glanced at his father once more and found Vincent still staring at the floor.

Meanwhile, Cloud continued, "With the Jenova in him awakened, Sephiroth went mad, thought he was a Cetra, and destroyed Nibelheim. For that... I killed him. That was the first of many times I've done that," his voice grew darker, "He just won't stay dead, though."

Drawing a breath between his teeth, Cloud lifted his glowing blue eyes and continued with his story, "Fatally wounded, the other SOLDIER and I were taken as Hojo's test subjects - Hojo being Shinra's pet scientist who created Sephiroth." Riku noted Cloud's quick look towards Vincent and suspected there was a big slice of information being left out here.

_'Lies and silence, all tangled together to leave me completely in the dark,'_ Riku though sourly, knowing that Vincent's half of the story was being deliberately left out.

"Five years later, we escaped and made it to Midgar but... the SOLDIER died while trying to save me," Cloud admitted, "Being that I was suffering from Mako poisoning, I didn't know who I was, I took his sword, took his memories, and got to Midgar on my own... somehow. That was when Tifa found me. We grew up together in Nibelheim, but she was rescued by her Martial Arts teacher and taken to Midgar. She'd joined a terrorist group called Avalanche." He glanced towards her this time and she cast him a slight, encouraging smile. "I was conned into joining as well. Avalanche's mission was to destroy the Mako reactors that took Lifestream from the Planet and turned it into power, a process that is the cause for the earth here around Midgar being barren."

Here, Cloud paused again, apparently disliking what he would have to say next. After a moment, though, he continued by saying, "After one of the missions, I met Aerith. She was later kidnapped by the Turks," he cast Axel a dark look, "We ended up breaking into the Shinra Tower to rescue her, and that was when we learned that Sephiroth wasn't really dead." He got a sour look on his face as Aerith giggled softly behind her hand. "Sephiroth killed the current President Shinra and Rufus, being Shinra's son, stepped into his place."

Squall frowned slightly, "I know that Rufus is one of the Princes of Darkness, but... at one time, he was funding our restoration project."

Shaking his head, Cloud replied, "A scam, likely. Rufus told me how he planned on running things when I fought him that night on top of the Shinra Tower. Shinra ran the world with money, Rufus would run it with fear. I remember those words, and I believe _that_ to be his ultimate goal, no matter what else he has said and done. Even if he and the Turks assisted in defeating Kadaj, they went into the North Crater to get Jenova's remains for _some_ reason..." Shaking his head, Cloud waved a hand, "I'm getting ahead of myself."

"Indeed," Paine agreed, looking slightly annoyed.

The blonde straightened and frowned at her slightly then continued, "So we, Barret, Tifa, Nanaki, Aerith and I, headed out of Midgar to hunt down Sephiroth and kill him."

"Woah!" Rikku yelped, "Who's Nanaki?"

"Red Thirteen," Cid replied, "Interesting dog. Vincent, did you ever find out what happened to him?"

Lifting his red eyes, the dark, silent man shrugged slightly.

"Right..." Cid sighed.

"Nanaki was another prisoner of Hojo's," Cloud replied, answering Rikku's question, "Moving on... We followed Sephiroth halfway across the Planet before finding out what his goal was, and what Jenova really was. He was after an object called the Black Materia, a Summon Materia that would call forth a meteor to crash into the Planet, creating a wound. The Lifestream would then rush to that wound, like blood, trying to heal it - and Sephiroth intended to be there, at the center of it to absorb the Lifestream and become a God, following the example of his 'Mother', Jenova."

Cloud paused to wet his lips then shook his head slightly. "He succeeded in getting the Black Materia..."

Silence fell as the group waited for the blonde to continue, but he didn't.

It was really starting to get uncomfortable with Cloud staring at the floor in silence.

Aerith sighed gustily and stated, "After Sephiroth got the Black Materia, I left the group and went to the Ancient City to pray and Summon Holy as the last way to protect the Planet. I, being the last Cetra, if only half, was the only one who could do it."

"I should have saved you," Cloud said softly.

"I had to die."

Cloud didn't look like he liked that answer. At least he got on with things, "Sephiroth succeeded in Summoning Meteor, despite doing our best to prevent it, but his act awakened the Planet's other defense mechanisms, the Weapons, which began rampaging the world. With little choice, we took out what Weapons we could and stopped Rufus from destroying valuable resources in an attempt to blow up Meteor. His idea wouldn't have worked anyway." He shook his head. "In the end, we had to go into the North Crater to fight Sephiroth and kill him again, since he was blocking Holy. We succeeded, and Holy destroyed Meteor... but we were still cursed with the aftermath. The children of those who'd been SOLDIERS had Jenova's cells in them, which made them sick and robbed them of the will to live."

Sighing softly, Cloud shook his head, "That was when Kadaj and his two lackeys, Loz and Yazoo showed up. They were out to find what was left of Jenova's original body - which Rufus had ordered the Turks to excavate from the North Crater. Rufus wanted to recreate the company, he was probably going to try to control Kadaj and his brothers with the remains." Cloud snorted, shaking his head, "Sephiroth and his clones, however, have a history of being... uncooperative."

Aerith, Tifa, and Yuffie sniggered, even Cid seemed amused at that.

Vincent, however, said nothing.

"In the end, Kadaj succeeded in getting the remains of Jenova and channeled Sephiroth - becoming him for a short time... until I defeated Sephiroth for the third time. Defeated, Kadaj disappeared into the Lifestream, followed by Loz and Yazoo."

"But Loz and Yazoo are back," Riku felt obligated to point out.

"I guess the Time Compression hit about then," Cloud replied.

"That was what brought me back," Aerith added, "But I wasn't the only one given a second chance."

Narrowing her eyes, Yuffie asked, "Who else, then?"

Smiling serenely, her green gaze sweeping around the room, Aerith replied, "Besides Loz, Yazoo, and Sephiroth, Vincent and Kadaj were also given a second chance."

Silence fell after that, a shocked silence, then Cid snorted, "Well, most of the lot haven't changed a bit," he glanced at Vincent, "No insult to your parenting skills intended."

Darkly, Vincent lied, "None taken."

Riku sneered at Cid, "I'll have you know, I turned out just fine, despite." Turning to look at Aerith, he asked, "Where is Kadaj now, though? If the other two are making trouble, it would be beneficial to know where he is."

"Yeah," Yuffie put in, "Wouldn't want him popping in out of nowhere and messing things up!"

Aerith cast a bright smile at the group as she clasped her hands behind her back and informed them, "Kadaj is being a very good boy this time around. I'm rather proud of him."

Pulling a face, Riku said, "So, you're saying he's out of the picture?" Aerith continued to smile. "Good. One less moron to fight. Speaking of fighting, shouldn't we get to that?"

"Yes," Cloud agreed, "we've wasted enough time here." Turning to look at Vincent, he asked, "Did you find any routs for us to get into the castle without being detected?"

Shifting, Vincent reached into his own side-pack with his flesh hand, pulling out a data screen, which he handed over to Cloud without even glancing at Squall, who looked perhaps a bit peeved at being left out of things for so long.

Then again, that was the expression Squall always seemed to be wearing. Laguna was smiling, "I'm glad Kadaj seems to be doing so well," he put in finally. Roxas looked like he really had no opinion on the subject, but Axel stuck out his tongue.

Yuna looked thoughtful, and Rikku was playing with Khimari's hair. Paine was silent and wearing an unreadable expression. Riku suspected she really didn't give a damn one way or another.

As Cloud looked at the screen, he frowned slightly and shook his head. Tifa, who was looking over his shoulder spoke first, "There's so many guards..."

"And only two paths," Yuffie concluded.

"There may be three," Roxas offered, drawing attention to himself. "Axel is still capable of making portals."

All eyes turned towards Axel, who frowned right back at them. "Alright, fine, I'll give it a try, but Rufus might have locked that. If he has, and I try before we're ready to take off, then he'll know we're here, though," he warned, pushing off the wall and dropping his hands to his sides.

"We should make up an alternate plan, then," Squall stated, speaking up, "Or make a three-pronged attack."

Cloud nodded, "Probably the best idea." Looking around the group, the blonde made a decision. Stepping forward, he put the screen on the table and pointed, "Squall, you take the group you came in with along this path. Tifa, Vincent, Riku, and I will take this path. Roxas, Yuna, your groups will join and try to get into the castle through a portal. If that fails, retreat and make a distraction here," he pointed at a place on the other side of the castle from where Squall and Cloud would be trying to get in. "When we get in, we'll try to take down the lock, somehow, and let you portal in." Looking around, he met everyone's eyes, then nodded, stepping back, "Let's get going then."

Picking up the map, Squall studied it for a moment before handing it to Cloud, who put it into his own pocket.

* * *

_AN: I am SO VERY SORRY this was so late. All my teachers decided to push back the due dates on all my projects, so, I got more time to do them, but on the other hand, I ended up stressing out over them for another week. X.x; But hey, you got a massive FF7 recap, in case you weren't aware of the events of FF7. Keep this in mind, kids! It's important! ALSO! Website update! I moved the page to geocities (dot) com-kaiyouaros-sanctuary (dot) html, if editing that into a link doesn't work, I've got a redirection link on the page it used to be on. I put up Riku's new outfit, Demyx's, and Koko's - as well as 3 new fanart pieces from AngelFlare, 2 from Misaryn, Doomboy's fanarts, and one by me._

_Next Chapter: The split! It's a pincer attack on Rufus's stronghold - can the good guys win or will they get their asses kicked and have to run like pussies again?_


	65. Between the Lines

_Chapter 65_

_(Between the Lines)_

Sora was feeling much better today.

His frustration of being unable to do anything for himself had paid off, it had given him the ability to force his body to do what he wanted.

The man with black hair had fallen asleep in the pilot's chair, feet kicked up on the controls, the lights dimmed considerably. Not that it really made a difference to Sora. He'd found that, which he still was seeing swirling colors, he could also see in the dark as if it were day. Almost as if his eyes glowed. So there he sat, in the partial dark, a field of blank, cold stars visible through the front windows, stranded in a ship with a guy who acted like his father and knew Cloud, with Kaiyou's book in his lap. Sora took a breath and sighed, hand shaking as he slowly turned the pages of his sister's diary. He'd decided to actually go through and read it all, since there seemed to be regular entries as well as locked memories.

It was an exercise in masochism, Sora decided.

'_All these awful things that happened to her - and I wasn't there. I may be able to help her through the bad ones, but the things she wrote in here of her days at school...'_

Her entries were sporadic, there were two entries from when she was six that were backdated to when she was three - one of which he'd unlocked, the other was her first entry that stated that she was going to write all the bad things in this book so she could forget them and talking about where she came from. She said that they'd told her that she was from a place called Okinawa, and that they didn't know who her parents were but it was too late, she was in the system and no one was complaining about her being missing. There were three entries between the time when she was eight and thirteen. The one when she was eight was of Beelzebub. There was one locked one of her at thirteen, and the second one was just a regular entry.

After rereading the entry on Beelzebub, Sora flipped past the locked pages to the next one he could read.

_Last night, I dreamed._

_I don't dream very often. Well, maybe I do, but I don't remember them._

_But last night I dreamed, and in this dream, I was a drop of water. I was endless, I was everything. I had no form, no shape, yet, for all this, I was powerless._

_I was just a drop in the ocean, a sea of me, and all my motions were caused by outside sources. The sea life within me swam in currents caused by unequal heating and cooling. The waves above them were caused by the wind. I was evaporated by the sun, and dropped to the ground again as rain. I was shoved onto the shore in tides as the moon went overhead._

_I was powerless._

_But I was also content to be so._

_That wasn't all of my dream, though._

_In my dream, I was near the shore, pushing sea life onto the dry sand and backing away, leaving it. Though those pools I left will dry out and kill what was living within them, I am not sad. This is life. Life and death are forever intertwined. All that live must die in order for change to come. Yet I am endless, I am changeless. I will forever be doing the same thing unless acted upon by someone._

_In my dream, someone was standing on the beach, on my shore, just out of reach._

_He was staring off into the distance. I think he was staring at the sky. He was beautiful, but he only had eyes for the sky. I would have let him be, except, deep beneath, I felt the earth move. I felt it shake... This young man, I realized, was the Earth. Just as I was the Ocean. His movement shifted me – shifted my currents – pushed me onto the shore, and out of impulse, I touched him._

_He looked at me. His brilliant blue eyes actually saw me, and he seemed surprised. The one he loved was so far away – untouchable, but then there was me. I was closer – within his reach – and enough like the sky that he could love me without fear._

_Frightened of that, I backed away, but the movement of the earth had done something terrible to me. Far, far away, a wave was building, growing until it became hundreds of feet high. It was crashing towards the shore – and the young man. He bravely stepped forward walking forward into my receding waves and held out his arms, as if welcoming the tsunami._

_He wanted to be swallowed by me, taken into my depths._

_I wasn't sure about that._

_It would mean that I would have to trust him._

_The fact that he'd caused this tsunami was testament of his power over me, yet... These things rarely happen in reality. Rarely does an undersea earthquake cause this kind of destruction._

_He wanted to be destroyed – and made new by me. Or maybe he was already destroyed and wanted me to wash away his sins? Could I do that? Do I have that power?_

_The wave was coming, regardless of what I thought or wanted. I was already set into motion. There was nothing I could do but surrender to his will._

_Just as the wave curled over him, blocking out the sun – but just before it crashed upon him, I woke._

Sora frowned slightly.

_'What a strange dream... It's dated the same day Destiny Islands got reformed from the Darkness, four years ago,'_ he thought, then glanced towards the guy with black hair. Still sleeping, which was fine with Sora. While generally happy and excited, he just didn't have the energy right now to listen to the man talk and fill the silence.

_'Why is he so afraid of silence? It's almost like he has things he doesn't want to think about and talking prevents him from thinking... that's probably what it is. But you can't run forever, mister. You're going to have to face what you did and figure out whether you're to blame for it or not. One day. But right now, I can't help you. I've got my hands full with Kaiyou.'_

Closing his eyes briefly, Sora sighed, tipping his head back as he lifted a shaking hand to his chest, touching his crown necklace.

_'Kaiyou...'

* * *

_

_AN: I am SO SO SO SO SO sorry for not updating - and for the wait you're going to have between now and the next chapter. It's the last few weeks of the semester and I really need to get to work on my final projects and stuff. So I wrote this little short bit just so that I'd have a chapter to post this note on. I can't tell you when I'll have the next chapter posted, but it'll probably be after 2 weeks._

_Next Chapter: Twilight's End. Lots of Riku-ness._


	66. Twilight's End

_Chapter 66_

_(Twilight's End)_

Riku stepped out into the fading light of evening and after a glance around, turned, heading left towards the bridge that went over the ravine and stream that flowed through it. They'd decided that since they were fighting shadows and it was late already, it would be prudent to not waste time by heading out tonight. In short, they'd decided to start the attack in the morning. While Riku thought it was a good idea, he was also of the mindset that they were wasting time... Stepping into Aerith's garden, his nose was assaulted with the varied scents of blooming flowers. Closing his eyes, he could almost feel the humm of life energy in this spot.

It was almost like being back at Destiny Islands - except there was no sea breeze sending kites into the sky...

_'Sora...'_

...or sunlight sparkling like laughter through the leaves of the trees...

_'Kairi...'_

...nor was there the constant rhythm of the waves washing onto the shore...

_'Kaiyou...'_

Taking a breath, he opened his eyes again and glanced around, spotting some daisies and iris, but other than that, he couldn't identify the flowers. That wasn't his specialty, after all. Starting forward, he slowly took a self-guided tour around the area, stopping at the flowers he didn't know and kneeling down to give them a better look.

His opinion, guided by this inspection of Aerith's garden, was that it needed watering.

However, another person's scent wafted towards him on the breeze and Riku stood, turning to face Aerith where she stood behind him. He would have smelled her sooner if there hadn't been all that moving water nearby, it dampened scents.

She was standing with her hands linked behind her, smiling slightly, "You like my flowers?" she asked.

"Eh... they're nice, I guess," Riku replied, not wanting to admit to being soft in any way.

Aerith smiled all the more.

"They're a little dried out, though," he felt obligated to point out, shifting uncomfortably. This ...was the first time he'd been cornered alone by her. It was a little unsettling. Her emerald eyes kept looking through him - at his soul - rather than at the body and face he was wearing. Unnerving...

Tipping her head slightly, Aerith replied, "Then, let's water them," she suggested, turning and heading to the bridge where her watering can sat. Taking it and tying it to a piece of rope that was also stored there, she lowered the can down into the ravine and into the stream, filling it with water.

Frowning slightly, Riku stepped over and placed his hand on the rope, stopping her before she could draw it back up herself. The can was heavy, after all and he couldn't let a woman do all the work. Aerith smiled at him and stepped back once more. "Thank you, Riku, you're very nice."

"Nice?" he repeated, then smirked, "No, I'm just good at pretending."

Softly laughing behind her hand, Aerith smiled at him, "Well, now that you've got the can," she stated, "You can water the flowers for me."

"Wha?" Riku protested, eyes going wide. "They're your flowers!"

"I'll teach you how," Aerith reassured, "it's easy." With that, she took his arm and pulled him towards the first flowerbed. Stumbling over the rope still tied to the can, Riku nearly poured water on himself, but managed to save himself from that indignity by pulling his arm from Aerith's grip. Untying the rope, he dropped that to the ground he followed her at his own pace and offered the watering can out to her.

Placing her hand on top of his, Aerith guided it out over the flowers, "You have to gently pour the water," she instructed, "Like rain, then let the water soak in some before going over it again." She tipped his hand, making water gently pour out of the spout of the can.

"Sora would enjoy doing this more," Riku commented.

"You're worried about him, aren't you?"

Staring down at the flowers, Riku admitted, "Of course I am. He's my best friend."

Silence fell for a time, and Riku came to realize something else that was missing.

There were no bird calls, no animal sounds, in this garden. There was only him, Aerith, and the waterfall. "You and Vincent... should talk," Aerith said finally, breaking the silence. "There's so much you don't know about each other."

"He's not interested in being a father to me," Riku stated flatly, irritated that she'd brought the subject up. "He just wants to make me into the perfect civilian. ...He wants to make me into something I'm not - like he's afraid of me turning out to be just like him."

Bowing her head, eyes hidden behind her bangs, Aerith said nothing. Her silence only irritated him further. "Look - you may be his friend and all, but... stay out of it, alright? There's no fixing this."

"Yes," Aerith sighed softly, "You're both far too stubborn."

Irritated even more, Riku ground his teeth, "If mom were here, none of this would have happened."

"So you blame her?" Aerith asked, lifting her head finally to look at his face.

Inadvertently, he met her gaze and was pinned by it. _'Well, now I know what the ant under the magnifying glass feels like...'_ Unable to back away from her due to her still gripping his hand on the watering can, Riku stared back at her for a long shocked moment before lowering his gaze. "She... she died. If she hadn't died... Dad wouldn't have made me help him all the time..." Grinding his teeth, Riku growled, "He's such a damn liar! He had that fake hand the whole time and he pretended to be helpless."

To that, Aerith said nothing and Riku really didn't want to look at her and see her expression. She was probably frowning at him. He wanted away from her.

"What did your mother die of?"

Startled by the question, Riku answered, but didn't look at her, "an illness."

"So it wasn't anyone's fault that she died," Aerith said softly. "Not yours, not your father's... but you both blame yourselves anyway."

To this, Riku had no answer, he just stared at the ground, scowling, knowing that he was hiding behind his hair. Taking the can from him finally, Aerith lifted her other hand up to brush his bangs from his face. "You really are a good person, Riku, no matter what you've done. Don't ever forget that you have people who love you, who would never abandon you, no matter what path you follow."

_'Sora, Kairi...'_

"Never forget them," Aerith told him, cupping his cheek and turning his face to look at her.

"...I won't," he said finally.

Nodding, she turned, lifting the watering can to continue watering her garden with it, leaving him alone for the time being.

Staring at her in silence, Riku took a breath and finally asked the question that had been bothering him for quite some time. "Why...do you remind me of my mother?"

She turned to look over her shoulder, lips twitching as she tried not to laugh. "If I told you... it wouldn't be a secret anymore."

Riku stared at her, then frowned, "Don't tell me you _are_ my mother or something..." He frowned even more deeply. "Mom had red hair." The thought of Aerith being his mother was a disturbing one - especially after the conversation he'd just had with her.

This time, Aerith shook her head, "No, I'm not your mother," pausing in watering the flowers, she looked up at the sky, "She's returned to the Lifestream." Closing her eyes, she took a breath and let it out slowly, as if listening to something far away.

Once more, silence fell and Riku stared off towards the waterfall, mesmerized by the way the falling water sent up sprays of mist into the air, like the waterfall at their play island...

"I'm sure she's proud of you, too," Aerith added – long after Riku had decided she'd said all she was going to. "If she'd died here, I would be able to hear her... But since she died on another world... It's too far." Lowering her head, she turned to face him, then lifted her eyes, catching his gaze.

_'I swear I've seen those eyes before, though!'_

"What're you doing?" a new voice asked and Riku turned, meeting Cloud's blue-eyed gaze.

_'Sora...'_

"None of your business," the silver haired young man replied firmly and turned, stalking off past the blonde.

* * *

Stepping out into the fading moonlight that lit the garden through the same hole the upper plate, Riku paused and looked up at the sky, then towards the rest of the group. It was a few hours before dawn and still quite dark. But, they needed the time to get into position before they made their attack, so... they were going to leave before it was light. He was tired, but it was more of an emotional exhaustion rather than physical. The conversation with Aerith the evening before had kept playing through his mind all night, leaving him wondering if there was something she'd been trying to tell him without actually telling him anything. 

_'If I told you, then it wouldn't be a secret...'_

Taking a breath, Riku shook his head and stated, "I vote we use a portal to get us on the other side of Midgar before we split up. That'll save some daylight." Seeing as how everyone else didn't seem to think that Axel's portals were really a viable option, Riku felt it was worth mentioning.

After a moment, Cloud and Squall nodded and turned to Axel. Pulling a face, the Nobody grumbled under his breath and lifted out a hand. "There - that'll get us to the other side of Midgar, hope no one sees it."

"We'll deal with that if it happens," Squall said firmly and boldly stepped through. The rest of the group followed afterwards and emerged on the other side in an alley located in the city on the edge of Midgar where everyone had moved after Midgar's destruction.

Splitting into their teams again, Squall turned and headed off, Cid, Yuffie, and Aerith following. Roxas hesitated, casting a frown at Riku, his eyes drifting towards Vincent in a silent question of _"you sure you'll be alright on his team?"_

Slightly amazed at Roxas's concern, Riku shrugged slightly. With a sigh, the ex-Nobody said, "We'll get as close as we can with this portal, then wait a bit before we make a try to get into the fortress itself," he said to Cloud, then turned and joined Axel and Yuna's group, stepping into the dark portal the redhead had re-opened.

Lips pressed together, Riku stuck his hands into his pockets, then stopped, pulling his hand out with a groan. "Crap," Riku grouched as he pulled out Kaiyou's necklace, looking at it in irritation.

Turning his head to peer at Riku, Cloud asked, "What?"

"Something wrong?" Tifa added.

"I forgot to give this back to Aros," he said, and after a look at the others, added, "The chain broke when she had that fit. I picked it up so it wouldn't get lost - couldn't fix the chain so I put it on this thing." Shrugging, he concluded, "We'll be done here soon enough."

Clipping the choker on, Riku adjusted it. It felt odd to have something clipped that tight around his throat, but then again, it wasn't like the torque had been made for him. Eyes trailing towards his father, he found Vincent staring at him and scowled. "Got something to say, old man?"

Vincent's eyes narrowed, "You're missing some hair," he pointed out.

Inadvertently, Riku blushed and started off before he could be asked anything else that would lead to embarrassing answers.

Heading through the town was eerie, especially in the darkness of this tail-end of night. Where the streets had been full of people the first time Riku had seen the place, it was now quite empty with broken burnt out shells of buildings partially fallen into the roads. Smoke was still rising from some of the buildings, wafting across the road in breezes that occasionally found their way through the ruins of the town. Ahead of Riku, Tifa was walking beside Cloud, their shapes silhouettes in the darkness. Vincent was behind him, bringing up the rear.

"So," Vincent said, startling Riku, "You're attracted to Sora."

First flushing in embarrassment over his father bringing up the subject of Riku's love life, then furious that Vincent would say such a thing, Riku turned to scowl at his father. "What?" he asked, "What gave you _that_ idea?"

Vincent's bored red eyes stared at Riku for a long moment before he answered, "Aros is Sora's twin," he stated.

"Aros looks nothing like Sora," Riku retorted, "but I doubt you've paid that much attention to her." He paused before lying, "And I'm not attracted to her either."

Looking completely unconvinced, Vincent said nothing further on the subject, which was fine with Riku, except now his thoughts were running in circles in his head. _'Dear Hyne, I hadn't thought of it that way at all! Sora has always been my best friend...'_

However, the niggling thought in the back of his mind replied, _'JUST your best friend? You have to admit that you were certainly very glad to see him that time in the Castle that Never Was, even if you did look like Xehanort at the time.'_

Lips compressing in irritation at himself, Riku firmly told himself, _'Kaiyou looks nothing like Sora. Honestly, she's shorter, she has a different shade of eyes and hair, she's got that little freckle at the edge of her left eye like a tear, and dimples - when she bothers smiling.'_ Briefly, he closed his eyes, recalling one of her brief smiles and couldn't help the sight quirk of his own lips.

Coming back to reality, Riku opened his eyes, _'Now isn't the time to get lost in daydreams... The point is, I'm not attracted to Sora!'_

Vincent was ignoring him now and had moved on ahead, taking the lead. Riku glowered at his father's back. _'What's his problem anyways? Why's he suddenly so interested? He never cared about who I was dating before now.'_

Even more irritated than before, Riku focused his attention on the path ahead, better to not think about things that would just make him uselessly mad. _'Focus on the task at hand!'_ he told himself very firmly.

However, in the wake of shoving other thoughts aside, Riku paused, looking around as a scent caught his attention.

It smelled like...

Like...

_'kin.'_

Unnerved by that stray thought, Riku broke into a jog and moved to catch up with the others. "We're being followed," he informed them, bringing the group to a full stop.

Vincent looked back at him, red eyes glowing slightly in the darkness. Cloud's blue eyes had a slight green cast to them as well. Turning to face Riku, Vincent asked, "What're you talking about?"

Glowering, Riku replied, "You're such a badass fighter, figure out for yourself."

Eyes narrowing, Vincent turned away and stated, "I'll check it out. You three go on ahead."

Cloud nodded and started forward again, Tifa falling in beside him. Riku, after staring at Vincent a moment, turned to follow as well. He'd let his father deal with finding out who it was following them.

In silence and darkness, they forged onward through the ruined city, heading for the wall that surrounded it, protecting it from the harsh landscape beyond. _'Wonder why this place is so barren,'_ Riku wondered but didn't ask the question out loud. After all, it wasn't really appropriate at this time.

By the time they reached the outer wall, Vincent still hadn't come back. "Should we wait?" Tifa asked as they paused in the shadow of the wall.

"He'll catch up," Cloud replied. "Let's get over this. Tifa," he folded his hands and partially crouched.

Nodding, she stepped into his hand and with a grunt, caught the top of the wall, pulling herself up onto it. Cloud looked at Riku – then blinked as the silver haired boy took a running start and scaled the wall easily. Shrugging, the blonde did the same, reaching the top with relative ease. "You must have inherited a lot from Vincent," Cloud commented, "Unless your mother was some kind of-"

"My mother," Riku interrupted, "was a doctor." Scowling he added, "She was a pediatrician."

Tifa sucked her lips in and looked away. Cloud crouched on the top of the wall, silent for a moment before turning – and nearly falling off the wall as Vincent landed beside him.

"Akina," Vincent stated softly, "was not involved in any military projects, if that was what you were wondering." Turning his hard gaze towards Cloud, he concluded, "She died of cancer."

"Right..." Cloud said slowly. "What about..."

"There was someone, but ... the trail disappeared," Vincent reported, then dropped down over the other side of the wall. Tifa, with a glance at both Cloud and Riku, shrugged and dropped down next. The two remaining hit the ground at the same moment and upon straightening, headed onwards.

Looking up at the sky, after another long silence, Cloud added, "Dawn will be in another hour." The half moon was nearly obscured by the horizon now, casting dark shadows across the canyons the quartet now found themselves in.

Vincent nodded, "We'll be in position by then," he stated and started forward, taking the lead again, though it was more of a position of forward scout than anything. Riku took the back once more, watching behind them as much as he could. That, however, was a difficult task, seeing as how the shadows in the canyons were far deeper than any night Riku had seen.

_'At least... no natural night,'_ he corrected mentally.

* * *

Roxas sighed as they headed down the rocky and very dark path, making their slow way towards their destination – the tower. Beside him, Laguna walked, smiling cheerfully, as if he had everything in the world to be happy about. It was almost like being with Sora again, except he didn't have to fear that Sora wanted Roxas to return the half of his heart he currently possessed. As for Laguna... he really wasn't too sure about what he should do with Laguna. Were they related in any way other than through Sora? Roxas sure didn't know. 

Axel paced ahead restlessly, leading the way in a terrain he obviously knew a lot better than any of the rest of the group. Occasionally, he lifted a hand to shove through his hair. He looked... _'Restless as a flame.'_ Roxas shook his head slowly then turned his eyes to look at the rest of his group in the darkness.

Yuna was walking behind him, staring at the moon with a nostalgic expression even as she walked. For once, Rikku was silent and sitting on Khimari's shoulder where the great hairy blue beast was striding a few feet behind Yuna. Paine was somewhere behind Roxas, out of his sight, probably watching their backs.

"Roxas..." Yuna said suddenly.

"Huh?" Straightening, he turned his head and regarded her with raised brows.

Turning her face towards him, clasping her hands behind her as she walked, Yuna said, "You know...Tidus, right?"

"Yeah," Roxas admitted. "Bleached brown hair, blue eyes, kinda obnoxious... yeah, I know him." Yuna looked away with a sigh. Shrugging, Roxas added, "Sorry – I just can't look at him the way you do. Sora grew up with him, they all played together as kids. Practically brothers, y'know?"

Lips pulling into a smile, Yuna nodded. "Yeah. Wakka and Chappu were like that too..." she sighed softly. "You... would you take me... to see him?"

Cocking his head, Roxas's brows drew together, "Wh- oh, Tidus. Sure, I guess... I don't see a problem with that. Though – he's technically never met me."

Lifting her eyes, one blue and one green, Yuna smiled at him again. "You're a very nice person, Roxas," she told him. Blinking at her, Roxas nearly faltered in his steps as he suddenly realized how pretty Yuna actually was. It wasn't just her face, but her smile and personality.

With a shake of his head to clear it, the blonde replied, "No – not really. That's just been a recent thing." Turning to face forward once more, he focused his attention on his feet and putting them one in front of the other.

"Combining with Sora," Axel stated from where he was leading the way, "Has changed your personality – but not who you are." Looking back over his shoulder, the redhead grinned.

With a shake of his head, Roxas dismissed the compliments and instead, stared at the ground.

Silence fell again. Yuna turned to stare up at the sky once more as she followed, Khimari and Rikku went back to doing what they'd been doing all along. Paine minded her own business. As for Laguna, he'd thankfully not added anything to the conversation.

_'This is going to be a long day, I suspect,'_ Roxas mused. Looking at the sky, he judged that the sun would rise soon, the sky was starting to turn the faintest bit of pink.

Navigating through the crevices was more than a little difficult in the dark, and Roxas was looking forward to having daylight.

* * *

The half moon's illuminating light barely lit the pale lifeless rocks of the ruined landscape. Ahead, Riku could see his father, behind, he could hear Cloud and Tifa struggling over the broken rocks strewn along the narrow path they were following through a gully, making their way up the side of the outcropping of rock Rufus's stronghold was built upon. While the blonde could see fairly well, Tifa could not and was at a serious disadvantage in this situation. As for Riku... his practice a year ago was paying off. He wasn't relying on his eyes to know where to place his feet. They'd been traveling for an hour now and hopefully it wouldn't be much longer before the sun rose. 

_'Can't help but think that attacking at night wasn't the smartest decision this group's ever made, though,'_ he mused.

Ahead loomed a nearly vertical wall, and Riku, after pausing at the base of it, he set his hands into the crevasses and began climbing. Reaching the top, he perched on the edge of the spike, and once he got his balance, leapt across the two foot gap between the piece of rock he was perched on and the next ledge.

Landing, he crouched down and crept to the other side where Vincent was already. His father turned his head slightly, chin-length hair fluttering in the slight chill breeze that was pushing a bank of clouds towards the moon high above.

"I suppose," he said softly, "I shouldn't be so surprised..." Vincent's voice trailed off and he looked away.

Riku scowled, "About what? That I can keep up? That I'm not dead weight?" irritated by his father's lat of response, Riku prodded further, "You should pay more attention – maybe attend some of the competitions I'm involved in at school."

Turning to look at Riku once more, Vincent's brows lowered as he started to reply sharply, "Maybe if you informed me-"

"You don't make it easy to tell you anything," Riku snapped right back, interrupting his father. Taking a breath, he reigned in his volume and looked back over his shoulder at the sound of scrabbling on the rock wall behind – Tifa and Cloud trying to join them. "I leave the fliers on the table," Riku pointed out, "You just never look at them."

Vincent said nothing, but his brass claw tightened on the rock he was holding for balance where he crouched. Riku's eyes narrowed on that hand, fury boiling in the pit of his stomach. How he wanted to rip that thing off and destroy it.

"I meant," Vincent said finally, voice tightly controlled, "that I shouldn't be so surprised you can see in the dark so well."

Riku sneered, "When hiding in Darkness, eyes can be a liability. I rely on other senses to guide me."

"What would _you_ know about darkness?" Vincent demanded in his softest growl of anger.

"Plenty, but you wouldn't be interested in listening," Riku replied brushing Vincent off.

Thankfully, distraction came in the form of Cloud and Tifa finally making it to the top of the wall and landing on the ledge behind them. "What do you see?" Cloud asked, creeping closer to crouch beside Riku.

Looking down the steep slope to the bottom of the gully where the path took up again, Riku squinted slightly, then sniffed. He could tell that there were Heartless nearby – the scent was on the wind. But beyond the Heartless, there were Jenova monsters lurking out there too.

Vincent, meanwhile, answered, "We're near the first line of guards," he lifted his brass claw and pointed, "They're stationed on that ridge up there." His voice was tightly controlled.

_'Ha, pissed you off, didn't I?'_ Riku thought, even if his victory was a rather sour one. _'Almost as rewarding as defeating Roxas.'_

Cloud frowned and looked over the ledge, peering into a darkness his eyes couldn't quite penetrate. "Find us a route down, Vincent," he ordered.

Simply nodding, Vincent dropped over the edge and disappeared into the darkness.

With a sigh, Cloud settled down where he was and stated, "I shouldn't have put you two on the same team. You can't work together."

Looking away, Riku quietly said, "Sorry... but this isn't a new thing."

Heaving a gusty sigh as she slid down to sit on the ledge behind them, Tifa said, "You two are like a pair of porcupines trying to hug. It's painful to watch."

Amused at the image, Riku stifled his laugh with a hand, "Can't help that either. If _he_ made more of an effort, maybe... but he's not interested. He just wants to pretend to be something he's not and make me into something I just can't be. He's tried his best to make me into a model civilian and just won't accept the fact that I'm a fighter." Looking off into the darkness, Riku added mentally, _'I think... I picked up on his more violent nature subconsciously. I never really believed he was just a paper-pusher at work. He certainly never answered questions about how he lost his arm.'_

Cloud sighed, but whatever his opinion of the situation was, he didn't say. Vincent appeared again, interrupting the moment. Landing on the edge of the ledge in front of the three, he stated, "this way," then turned, dropping over the side again.

Standing and looking down into the darkness, Cloud narrowed his eyes slightly, "Could I at least...ask that you quit pissing Vincent off? You really don't want to see him when he's angry." With that, the blonde dropped over the side, picking his way down the ledges carefully.

Turning towards Tifa, Riku stood as well and offered a hand out. "I'll carry you down."

Nodding, she took his hand and he pulled her onto his back before leaping over the edge, following Cloud and Vincent's path down the maze of jutting ledges and spars. Landing on the ground at last, Riku crouched and let Tifa's feet down.

"Thank you, Riku," she said.

Simply grunting, Riku started forward, taking a moment to glance around, finding that they were in a cleared area in front of a fairly low-grade slope that led down to a wide ravine. Above, the first blush of pink had started to touch the sky. "It gets dangerous from here," Vincent stated, voice tight, obviously still angry at Riku.

Starting forward – he stopped just as Riku did, head cocking.

The rumbling got more distinct and diving towards Tifa, Riku knocked her to the ground just as a spray of bullets hit the wall where she'd been standing. Rolling to his feet, Riku called his Keyblade and stood at the ready as a pair of bikes launched over the cliff to their left. Landing on the ground hard, the bikes came to a stop briefly, and in the poor light, Riku could make out silver hair on the pair of bikers as they started circling the quartet.

Cloud, drawing his sword as well, narrowed his eyes, "You two again?" he asked.

"Big brother," the large muscled man, Loz, greeted Cloud as they circled, "We're going to have to kill you now."

"Give us Kadaj back!" the other, the gunner Yazoo, snarled.

Riku frowned slightly, "Kadaj died," he informed them, "He's not here."

Apparently, the two didn't much like the truth, for they turned their bikes towards the group and made a rush. The quartet dived aside, Tifa and Riku dodging Yazoo as Cloud and Vincent missed being run down by Loz.

Once past, the pair spun around and made another pass, Yazoo aiming his gun this time, spraying bullets at Tifa once more. Taking a chance, Riku shifted his weight and threw himself at Yazoo, landing on the back of the man's bike. Dropping his blade, Riku grabbed hold of Yazoo's gun-hand and twisted it, breaking the man's grip. With a clatter, the gun dropped to the ground as Yazoo fought to free his hand from Riku's hold. The bike, meanwhile started off down the rocky incline towards the wide ravine. By the sound of it, Loz was still harrying Cloud and the others, but deciding that the trio was capable of handling one of the pair, Riku focused his attention on subduing Yazoo.

Long silver hair whipping in his face, Riku wrapped an arm around Yazoo's throat, tightening it until he felt his opponent start to struggle. The bike weaved wildly, but Riku didn't let go, even as the scenery passed in a dark blur. Grinding his teeth, Riku twisted, finally pulling Yazoo off the seat and dumping him onto the ground. Grabbing the handles of the bike, Riku brought it under control just before he hit a wall and spun around, turning to aim at Yazoo as the gunner was getting to his feet.

Aiming his gun, Yazoo hesitated as the first rays of dawn finally broke over the horizon, lighting up the ravine. Over the sound of his own bike, Riku could hear Loz's as it came barreling down the slope towards them. Spinning the bike around, Riku decided, _'I'll lead them off and catch up with the others.'_

Spinning the tires briefly, Riku took off down the ravine once more, pouring on as much speed as he could. After glancing behind him to see if the two were following, he found that Yazoo and Loz had doubled on Loz's bike and were gaining, a plume of dust rising up behind them as they sped across the landscape.

* * *

_AN: I'm SO very sorry for the delay on this, I had a minor bout of writer's block. This... is actually half the chapter I'd gotten an idea for, but since I don't want to overload you with massive amounts of plot all at once, I've split it._

_Next Chapter: Prepare thyself for ANGST!_


	67. Revelations and Decisions: part 1

_Chapter 67_

_(Revelations and Decisions: part 1)_

"I see," Rufus murmured as he leaned back in his chair, feet propped on his desk. "The pests have returned. Where are my troops?"

Tseng, after briefly pressing his lips together, replied, "The Heartless are keeping the townspeople in line working on the tower," he reported, "And Deepground are watching the Heartless to keep _them_ from attacking the workers."

Removing his feet from the desk, Rufus stood. The office was not like Sora and the others had left it that was for sure. For one, all of the disks and books that had been scattered about had been removed to another location, the pictures of Ansem, Xehanort, and those other idiotic Nobodies had been removed and burned, and in their place, a handsome painting of Rufus Shinra had been hung on the wall behind the desk.

As Rufus stood, he paced around to the front of the cleared off desk, "What of your people?"

Lifting his chin, Tseng replied, "E...Elena... is guarding the door, as ordered. Rude and Reno are watching Gary, as ordered. I have been overseeing Deepground, as you ordered."

Rufus growled under his breath. "This is... so _tedious!_" he snapped, slamming a fist on the desk. "The Heartless are almost more trouble than they're worth and the Deepground are no better!" He'd contacted the remnants of his father's SOLDIER project out of desperation for troops to hold his new empire, but... they were turning out to be a rather bothersome bunch. They continually needed Mako to upkeep their strength and stamina, they were disrespectful, and seemed to have an agenda of their own that, for now, wasn't interfering. However, Rufus suspected that there would come a time – and probably soon – when the members of Deepground, especially Weiss, got it in their heads that working for Rufus wasn't in line with what they wanted.

Turning to face Tseng, Rufus's lips curled into a smile, "At least I've got the Turks." Turning away again, the Prince of Darkness began to pace the room's perimeter, "If only that pesky WRO were still around... Annoying as they were to deal with, they were at least useful. Reeve in particular."

Glancing over his shoulder at Tseng, who had not moved from where he'd stopped in the center of the room to give his report, Rufus asked, "Where are Reeve and that annoying puppet of his?"

"Reeve Tuesti is and has been missing for quite some time. As for Cait Sith, there has been no sign," Tseng reported. Lowering his eyes, he stared at the front of Rufus's desk, lips pulling down into the slightest of frowns.

"You have something to say?" Rufus questioned, coming to a stop beside Tseng.

Taking a breath, but hesitating before speaking, Tseng replied, "It's...about Elena." Swallowing, he forced himself to continue, "And Reno."

With a bored expression, Rufus strode back around behind his desk and took a seat, putting his feet up on it once more. "Go on."

Grasping his courage with both hands, Tseng continued, "Is there some way to change Elena back?"

"Is there some problem with how she is now?" Rufus teased. "I've noticed a significant increase in her productivity as a Turk. No more of those silly mistakes she used to make, and certainly a lot more effective. I see no reason to change her back."

Tseng stood rock steady under those words and replied, "She is difficult to work with. She doesn't take orders."

Rufus flipped a hand, "Not from you, no. You haven't the power to keep her in control. Are you upset? Are you jealous of her abilities? I could always have Hojo do a little tinkering on you as well," he offered with a sadistic grin.

"Is there no way to change her back?" Tseng asked again, voice firm in an effort to keep from revealing how angry he actually was.

Smiling broadly, Rufus replied, "No. Probably not."

"And Reno?" Tseng asked.

"Reno... is Reno's problem. If he wants to change back, he can." Rufus lifted his hands in a vague shrug. "I rather like him how he is, though." He chuckled.

Bowing slightly to his employer, Tseng stated, "Thank you, sir. I'll be getting back to my duties now." Flicking his fingers, Rufus turned his eyes towards his hand and inspected his nails.

* * *

The sun was up finally, and crawling out of a sunrise of streaked yellows and pink. On the horizon there were smudges of clouds, but nothing that would bring in storms. Roxas was of mixed feelings – an unusual thing for him, since he was so used to not feeling much of anything. He wanted to go back to Destiny Islands and forget about all of this; just take his family back home and leave this mess to people who were older and wiser... And on the other hand, _'Do I have the right to call them my family?'_

Glancing at the man who was walking to his right, Roxas answered himself, _'Laguna would probably say I'm his son... Kaiyou says I am her brother. Sora says I'm his brother...'_ But he couldn't help but think that he really didn't belong.

Ahead, Axel suddenly stopped and threw out a hand. Turning to the others, he put his finger to his lips and crept closer to them, "I think there's someone ahead of us."

Yuna exchanged a look with Rikku, and the yellow fairy put her hands over her mouth, eyes wide. _'Right. Not a peep from her. I'll believe it when I see it,'_ Roxas mused, then looked back towards Axel as he took to creeping forward. _'And here I'd thought we'd have an easy time of it, get to where all the townspeople are being held and not have any troubles fighting off the massive amounts of Heartless that are doubtlessly on guard.'_

Shaking his head, Roxas turned his mind away from his sarcastic thoughts and to the moment. It was a much better idea to pay attention to the situation at hand, after all.

"Maybe we can sneak around them?" Laguna suggested, catching Roxas's expression, then shrugged as Axel shot him a look.

* * *

"So. Here you are..." a sneering voice stated as a dark portal closed behind the newcomer. 

Sephiroth didn't bother turning to look, he knew the one who'd come was no match for him. Instead, he kept his eyes focused ahead, watching a plume of dust rise in the distance, moving across the broken rocky landscape. He stood at the edge of a ledge with a drop-off about three hundred feet above the floor of a ravine. There were other ledges below this one that were narrower and shorter, the one Sephiroth stood on was the uppermost, with a maze of paths at his back.

"I was expecting someone ...more intimidating," the young Prince stated as he stepped closer.

Still, the ex-SOLDIER did not turn.

Irritated at the lack of response, the young man stepped into Sephiroth's peripheral vision, "Nothing to say?" he sneered, trying harder to be obnoxious.

"You would do well to watch your tongue, boy." Sephiroth advised blandly.

Scowling, Gary folded his arms on his chest, "Or what?" he challenged.

Knowing exactly why Gary was there and what he was trying to prove, Sephiroth smirked ever so slightly as he replied, "Someone might cut it out."

Throwing his hair back over his shoulder, Gary snorted, eyes half lidded, "Who? You?" he laughed, "A washed-up wretch like you? You can't even kill that pesky Cloud Strife! How could you be a threat to me?" Dropping his hands to his hips, a slight breeze fluttered his long white coat.

"You are nowhere near Strife's capabilities," Sephiroth replied blandly, unbothered by Gary's taunts. Finally turning his head, he regarded the upstart. "And my plans are not your concern."

Straightening, Gary looked skeptical, "What? Your plan to convert Strife to your side and rule the universe together?"

Turning away, Sephiroth didn't bother answering.

"Oh-ho, got it in one, did I?" Gary taunted.

"No," Sephiroth snorted, "You're annoying me."

Stalking forward a step, Gary sneered, "Then get rid of me!"

With an amused glance over his shoulder, Sephiroth smirked as he replied, "I don't have to." He lifted a hand, opening a Dark Portal, and stepped in.

Teeth gritted, Gary stomped a foot as he shouted, "You cowardly son of a-" then stopped, getting control of himself once more. Straightening, he turned and stopped as he was confronted by several sets of eyes who had been witness to the scene.

Stepping out further into the open, Roxas stated, "So, we finally meet."

Gary blinked, "And who... are you?"

"The name's Roxas."

"And I'm Axel, got it memorized?"

"Laguna!"

"Yuna!"

"Rikku!"

"Paine."

"..." Khimari rumbled.

Gary snorted, then burst out laughing, "If you're Laguna... where's... 'Aros'?" he put quotations with his fingers around the name.

"Aros is somewhere you can't get her," Roxas replied, drawing Oathkeeper and Oathbreaker. "And since Sora's not here to deal with you, it looks like it's my turn to cream you!"

Leaping forward, Roxas swung his Keyblades, aiming to decapitate Gary in one swipe. His enemy rolled backwards, avoiding the attack and held out his hands, summoning Obsidian Heart.

In unison, the others of Roxas's group dashed forward, Yuna and Laguna moving to the side to flank Gary on one side while Paine, Rikku and Khimari went to the other for a pincer. Gary, however, paid them no attention, instead focusing on Roxas.

Getting his feet beneath him, Gary sprang forward, launching himself straight at Roxas, Yuna and Laguna's bullets missing him entirely and nearly hitting their allies. Bringing his sword around, Gary aimed for Roxas's chest, but was blocked as the blonde brought Oathkeeper up to knock the shot aside. That was followed by Oathbreaker, aimed at Gary's stomach as he braced against Gary's weight. He stumbled forward as the Prince turned to black smoke suddenly, midway through the strike and reappeared behind Roxas.

Lifting a foot, Gary aimed it at the back of the blonde's knee. Rolling forward to avoid the strike, Roxas got to his feet again, but was off balance for a crucial moment as Gary launched himself at his enemy once more. Striking Roxas's double-block again, Gary drove the blonde back several steps before pulling back and aiming another strike. Blocking again, Roxas was knocked off his feet by the strength of the blow.

Unfortunately, the ground wasn't quite where Roxas had expected it to be, and he watched his friends disappear over the edge of the cliff as he fell. Unexpectedly, Gary leapt off after him, coat flaring out behind him like white wings.

* * *

Gasping as Roxas was driven over the edge of the cliff, the group rushed forward as one, intending to go to his rescue. Yuna, in front, skidded to a stop as a black portal opened just in front of her. And a familiar voice issued from it, "Well, well..." sneered the voice as the owner stepped out into the light, green eyes amused as he called forth his shock-stick, "More rats. How...fun! Let's kill them!" 

Without waiting for his partner's reply, Reno leapt forward, catching Yuna across the shoulder with a crackling snap. Crying out, the ex-Summoner fell to the ground a few feet away and lay there for a moment. It didn't take more than that to set the rest of the group moving. Charging forward, Khimari and Paine made their attacks on the Turk. Ducking Khimari's spear, Reno spun around, blocking Paine's sword, and added a kick to her knee, making her stumble as he darted out from their pincer-attack, rounding on Khimari with a swift crackling-slap of his stick on the Rhonso's arm.

Laguna, thus far ignored, headed to the left, aiming his machine gun as he focused his powers. Firing off a round of ice bullets at Reno, he barely missed hitting Paine with his attack as she came in for another strike. He also missed hitting Reno, as the Turk side-stepped.

While right in the middle of a crisis wasn't the best time to do a soul-search, Axel figured that now was probably the only time he'd have to do it. Stepping back several paces, he watched the battle and finally came to a stop beside the dusky-skinned bald man who had come with Reno but had yet to join the battle. "...What do you think?" Axel asked Rude without looking at him.

In front of them, Reno caught Paine's arm, twisting it as he stomped on the back of her leg, sending her to the ground. She rolled away from his kick and was saved from further abuse by Yuna's recovery spell and Khimari's quick intervention. Rikku was generally being annoying, slashing at Reno's back with her charams, but not doing much damage to the Heartless.

Rude said nothing, but Axel honestly wasn't surprised.

"I guess you're right," the redhead sighed, "I already know the answer... But... you don't quite understand how...difficult it is to forgive yourself."

Finally turning to look at him, Rude lifted a hand and tipped his sunglasses, meeting Axel's eyes over them.

"Hm," Axel mused, then burst out laughing - and just as abruptly stopped.

Taking a breath, Axel said, "Just promise to not kick their butts too badly," he gestured at the group, "I'm about as fond of them as I can be."

For a moment, Rude said nothing, then his lips twitched and he nodded.

Together, they ran forward, Axel summoning his charka, and throwing one at Reno, shouted, "Hey Butt-face!"

Knocking Rikku aside, Reno turned, the charams catching his cheek as his eyes widened. "Wh- _what_ did you call me?" he demanded.

Coming to a stop, Axel smirked, "You heard. Let's dance!"

Calling his charams back to his hand, he crouched partially in a fighting stance.

Too furious for words, Reno took the challenge, charging towards Axel with an incoherent shout. Swinging his stick at Axel, head height, which the Nobody ducked backwards to avoid, then taunted, "Oh - too slow!" Eyes blazing with rage, Reno renewed his attack as Yuna and the others gathered up to join the fight. They were quickly cut off by Rude as the dusky-skinned fist-fighter stepped into their path, cracking his knuckles.

Diving back and leaping away from Reno's next headlong rush, Axel called, "C'mon! You can do better than that!" Focusing briefly, the Nobody spread his fingers, his charams bursting into flame. In response, Reno pushed the power on his weapon to the max with a flick of his thumb as he came after his Nobody at a dead run. Axel remained where he was, standing in a ready stance.

* * *

Twisting to look behind him, Roxas spotted another ledge rising towards him fast. Throwing his body into a flip, he got his feet under him just in time. Landing hard and rolling to take the impact, Roxas got to his feet again just as Gary landed a short distance away. The ledge was a narrow one, barely five feet wide and perhaps fifteen long, and over the ledge was a straight drop of perhaps two-hundred feet. Without waiting, Roxas launched into his attack; dodging to the left and arcing Oathbreaker down in an overhand blow. Gary blocked then dodged Oathkeeper as Roxas stepped in for a stab followed by a step forward, bringing Oathbreaker across in another slash. 

Avoiding the blow by side-stepping it, Gary slapped aside Roxas's next attack, then pressed in with a series of stabs, forcing Roxas backwards towards the edge of the cliff. Slamming both his blades across to knock Gary's sword away, Roxas spun away from the edge just before his foot slipped off. Swinging his blades in arcs as he spun, he blocked another strike from Gary as the Prince followed him across the ledge. Coming to a stop, Roxas ducked beneath a head-height slash and came in under Gary's sword, bringing both his blades up in an X-slash that barely missed his enemy as Gary turned to smoke.

Continuing forward, Roxas skidded to a stop in the middle of the ledge and waited for his enemy to reappear - which he did. Dropping down on Roxas from above, Gary fell with his sword pointed down. Throwing himself to the side and quickly getting his feet under him Roxas sprang after Gary before the black-haired man could get his sword out of the dirt. Ducking back from Roxas's swing, Gary pulled hard on Obsidian Heart and finally tore it free from the rock, sending a spray of dust up at Roxas's face as he did. Blinking rapidly, Roxas tried to clear his eyes as he followed after Gary, only to suddenly change directions as his enemy took a sudden and unexpected swing at him.

Leaping back to avoid the strike, Roxas skidded to a halt as Gary brought his sword around - sending an arc of darkness at his enemy.

"You have no hope of defeating me!" Gary taunted.

Not bothering to respond, Roxas slashed his blades across in an X, breaking Gary's wave-attack before leaping after the black-haired and black-hearted Prince. Dodging to the side, Gary avoided Roxas's attack then brought his sword in for a slash at the blonde's side. Twisting away from the attack, Roxas slammed Oathkeeper down to send Gary's sword further along its path. Stepping in, he followed up with a diagonal downward strike from Oathbreaker. This attack was blocked by Gary as the Prince turned his sword hilt-up - then twisted it to the side, throwing Oathbreaker from Roxas's hand entirely. The blade, sparkling in the morning light, flew over the side of their narrow ledge and clattered down the steep slope.

* * *

Blocked by Rude, Khimari growled softly, bringing his spear into line, readying for an attack. 

Ducking to the side, the fist fighter came in close to trade a kick and punch combo with the Rhonso – who blocked all three attacks but was forced back and out of the way. Yuna diving forward, shot a volley of bullets at Rude as she rolled past, followed quickly by Paine who slashed at the man's back.

Rude ducked forward, Paine's sword slicing the air just above his coat as he lifted a foot back, slamming it into her stomach. The impact sent her flying and Rikku dived to catch her friend before she rolled off the edge.

Not to be left out, Laguna took a stance and focused his power, casting ice through his gun, which he sent speeding towards Rude. Twisting away, Rude made a rush at Khimari once more, but the Rhonso leapt into the air, avoiding the fist-fighter's attack. Rikku, not wanting to be left out, dived at Rude's head while the man was distracted, successfully stealing his glasses just as Paine made it back into the fight along side Yuna. Slashing her sword at Rude's waist, the bald man was forced to leap up - and landed on her sword, then back flipped away from Yuna and Laguna's volley of bullets.

Barely having time to get his balance before dodging Khimari's dragoon attack, Rude rolled away, getting to his feet again some distance off. Quickly darting his glance away from his enemies, he checked Reno and Axel, then swallowed and flexed his fists as he came charging back into the fray, his uppercut catching Yuna in the stomach and sending her rolling away. Rikku's attack was thwarted with a back-hand that sent her flying the opposite direction as Rude went straight for Paine.

The swordswoman brought her blade around, blocking Rude's first punch, but missed blocking the second or the kick to her head which followed, sending her rolling away, losing her grip on her sword. Khimari stepped in once more, blocking Rude from reaching his next target - Laguna. Stabbing at Rude's head, the fist fighter ducked, then had to turn to the side as Khimari pulled back and made another swift stab at wait height, the tip of his spear catching the edge of Rude's coat sleeve and ripping it. Leaping straight upwards this time, Rude barely missed getting skewered by Khimari once more and landing on the Rhonso's spear, he flipped over the large blue creature and landed on the ground in a run as Khimari spun around with a wide sweep of his spear.

Barreling towards Lanuga, Rude tackled the older man, knocking him down and delivering a solid blow to the man's stomach, incapacitating him.

Yuna, still crouched where she'd fallen lifted a gun, firing at Rude, but her bullets missed as the fist-fighter ducked aside. Khimari, leaping into the air again, came angling down to stab the ground where Rude had just been standing as the man came back around, heading for Paine, who was slowly getting back up. Slamming his foot into her stomach again, he sent her sprawling to the ground once more.

* * *

As Reno came running at Axel, the Nobody crouched slowly, his hands raised, flaming charams spinning beneath them as he readied himself. Leaping upwards he barely avoided Reno's slash with the crackling shock-stick. Landing on the ground behind his Heartless, Axel threw first one charams, then the other at the man's back. The first struck, the second, Reno deflected as he turned, slapping the weapon away. Arcing through the air, the flaming weapons returned to Axel's hands as Reno scowled at him, "I'll destroy you." 

"You know you can't," Axel retorted smoothly, smirking.

Again, Reno came charging in, this time too quick for Axel to dodge. Lifting his hands, he took hold of his charams, using them to block Reno's stick, the electrified air numbing the Nobody's fingers. Beginning to grin even more broadly, Axel began to laugh, which only infuriated Reno more. Putting his whole weight against his shock-stick, Reno shoved his Nobody back step by step, pushing him towards the battle Rude and the others were having.

Suddenly twisting to the side, Axel shoved Reno's weapon aside, and sent a hefty kick to the Heartless's backside. "What the _hell_ is so funny?" Reno demanded.

"I can't enjoy myself?" Axel retorted cheerfully as he threw his charams at Reno's head. Again, the Heartless slapped the blades aside and rushed forward before Axel could call them back to his hands. This time, succeeding in connecting a blow with Axel's chest, stunning the Nobody and knocking him back.

"No!" Reno shouted, "You're not allowed to!" He followed his statement with a blow to Axel's face, which sent the Nobody staggering back several more steps.

"But," Axel smirked as blood dripped from his lips. "I'm actually _feeling_."

Furious, Reno leapt forward, swinging his shock-stick again at Axel's head, but the Nobody brought an arm up, blocking the blow with his charams. Stepping in, Axel slashed with his burning weapons, catching Reno across the chest once, then spun to slash again with his other blade then leapt forward in a double- handed attack that sent Reno staggering back.

Now cut up and bloody, the two faced each other, staring across a space of about ten feet while Rude and the others continued to fight - Laguna was down, Yuna was sort of down, and Pain was in the process of getting kicked in the stomach. Axel brought his attention back to Reno, who stood with his back towards the cliff's edge.

_'I guess we should end this before Rude kills them...'_ Axel thought.

Throwing a hand out just as Reno sprang forward to attack, Axel called forth a dark portal a few feet over the side of the cliff, then ducked as Reno swung his stick at his Nobody's head. From his partially crouched position, Axel brought his foot up, lashing out in a powerful kick that sent Reno flying.

Howling in fury as he went over the side of the cliff and into the opened portal, Reno flailed. Axel, eyes on his goal, leapt after.

* * *

Following up his disarming attack, Gary stepped in to slash at Roxas's stomach once more. Sucking in his gut and throwing his weight back, he barely missed being struck, and overbalanced, tumbled forward. Coming up, he aimed a stab for Gary's legs, but missed as the Prince disappeared in a puff of black smoke. On instinct, Roxas called Oathbreaker back to his hand and blocked his back; just in time, for Gary's sword clashed against Roxas's blade with a bell-like sound. Gritting his teeth against the jarring noise, Roxas got his foot under him in a crouch, and turning as he kept Oathbreaker in contact with Obsidian Heart, he shoved Gary's blade to the side and made for a slash at Gary's legs. 

Backing away quickly and avoiding the blow, Gary leapt back several more feet and threw another black wave attack at Roxas. Again, breaking the wave with a cut from both his blades, Roxas lifted his eyes to find Gary gone. Diving forward, he barely managed to escape getting spiked by the Prince's stab. Bringing his blades around, he turned to face Gary once more as a wave of darkness was sent towards him. Once again, Roxas broke the attack and caught the hint of black smoke where Gary had been standing, and ready for Gary's next move, spun around with a double-block.

Gary's blade clashed against Roxas's once more with that hollow bell-like sound, and shoving Gary's blade aside, Roxas launched an all-out attack against his enemy. Aiming high on one strike, he aimed low on the next, then low again. Desperately trying to keep up with the blonde's duel-blade attacks, Gary blocked them and backed away, step by step until finally, his heel slipped off the edge of the cliff. His distraction cost him seconds, and Roxas brought both his Keyblades around in a savage slash that caught Gary across the chest - directly over his Heartless emblem.

Crouching slightly, Gary leapt backwards, flipping away as he shouted, "This isn't over yet!" and fell into the portal he'd opened beneath him.

Panting, Roxas stared after Gary, then around the ledge, waiting for the next attack. Looking up at the sound of another shout, his eyes widened as he saw a black portal open almost directly above him. However, instead of anyone coming out, Reno went flying into it - backwards and obviously not by his volition. Directly afterwards, Axel sprang across the gap - eyes fixed ahead on his target.

"Axel!" Roxas called, but was too late. The portal closed, taking both the redheads into the darkness.

Heart in his throat, he stared up at the ledge that was a little too high for him to leap up.

After a moment, Laguna peered over the ledge and called, "Roxas! You okay?"

"Yeah," he replied. "Just a little stuck."

Ducking back, Laguna was replaced by Yuna, who peered down, then ducked back as well. Seconds later, a large blue shape dropped down and landed in a crouch on the ledge beside Roxas. Before the blonde could blink, he found himself swept up in a burly arm, and the Rhonso leapt, scrambling back up the rocky cliff. Once at the top, he set Roxas down gently.

Breathing, Roxas dusted himself off and shook his head. "I agree with Sora - that guy Gary needs to die."

Yuna bit her lower lip, "Roxas - Axel..."

"I saw," Roxas replied then sighed, looking off towards where the portal had opened, "...Just have to trust that he'll be alright," he turned to look at the others. "He'll catch up when he can. We need to move on, in the meantime."

Reluctantly nodding, the group followed after Roxas as he started off. Sadly, he wasn't quite sure where they were going - Axel had been their native guide.

"Hey!" Rikku called, "There's that other guy!" she pointed, "He's running that way!"

"What other guy?" Roxas asked, confused.

"The one that showed up with Reno," Laguna replied. "Let's follow him!" With that, the president started running.

* * *

Squall pulled himself up to the edge of the cliff and peered over, taking careful note of the landscape. The balcony of the tower was empty and just as Squall last saw it. 

Narrowing his eyes, Squall frowned ever so slightly as his eyes trailed towards the tower itself. _'Tron is still down...'_ he recalled, a little regretfully. Not that Tron would have been able to help them in this fight...

"Where's everyone else?" Yuffie asked as she climbed up beside him and peered over the edge.

"They may have been caught... you saw that cloud of dust." Squall replied as he pulled himself over the side and crept quickly across the open space to the wall of the tower, putting his back to it. There weren't even any guards to take out. "This just doesn't seem right..."

Yuffie hauled herself over as well and scrambled to catch up, "What?"

"No guards..."

"Rufus always relied on his Turks more," the ninja replied, though she looked a little worried too.

Squall said nothing, just watched as Cid and Aerith finally caught up from checking out side-paths to make sure they weren't flanked. Climbing over and hurrying to join their group leader, Aerith and Cid put their backs against the wall as well.

"See anything?" Squall asked.

Shaking her head, Aerith replied, "Sephiroth is out there though..." she admitted, frowning slightly. "I don't know what he's doing, but he's got Loz and Yazoo working with him. I think they caught Cloud. Or at least Riku."

"Riku..." Sqaull muttered, "Let me guess..."

"That's in the past," Aerith interrupted, "He's Riku now and that's what matters."

"Kid's nice enough," Cid agreed, "Seems to have his head on straight." Taking his cigarette from his mouth, he dropped the butt to the side and stepped on it, "So, if Cloud's not coming..."

Taking a breath, Squall replied, "We move on," he stated, "We've gotten this far."

Turning to look up at him, Yuffie clasped her fists near her chest as she swallowed, "What if it's a trap?"

"Then we'll deal with that. We can't back out now. That'll just get everyone killed." Squall frowned as he gazed off into the distance, "We may be the only ones who made it this far. Perhaps the others are distracting Rufus's guards. We've got to trust them and do the job." Turning to look at the other three, he continued, "You're all strong – you helped defeat Sephiroth before."

For a moment, the others stared at him, then Aerith smiled, "You're right. We can do it."

Yuffie, after looking back at Aerith, nodded as well with a grin, "Let's go!"

Cid, who was in the process of lighting a new cigarette, took a moment to reply, "Yeah, let's get this over with. I'm really getting tired of Shinra."

"Not so fast... Have you forgotten about me?"

As one, the four turned to stare at the cliff they'd just climbed over as the torso of a woman slowly rose up over the side, followed by a serpentine tail. Slithering onto the balcony, Elena smirked, sharp teeth flashing as she straightened, lifting her clawed hands, snake-hair writhing. However, she'd apparently not gotten any medical attention since their last fight and still had half the heads of her snake-hair mutilated and a deep slash in her front as well as a multitude of other wounds across her body.

"Shit," Cid stated, summing up the situation in one word. Without waiting for any signal, Squall leapt forward, pulling his Gunblade from the straps on his back. Firing a shot that sent the blade vibrating, he slashed at the snake-woman.

Elena coiled back, easily avoiding the blow but was surprised when Yuffie's shuriken slammed into her shoulder. Running along the wall of the tower, the ninja caught her weapon as it curved back around, then flipped to land on the balustrade. Flailing, she nearly tumbled off it, but caught her balance just in time to leap over Elena's tail as it swung around.

Aerith, standing back, lifted her hands, pressing her palms together, then threw them forward as she cast. Ice exploded against Elena's chest, making the naga reel back. "Is that Materia?" Yuffie shrieked in envy, "Where did you get it?" Aerith, however, didn't have time to answer, as Elena was taking a swing at her now and the woman in pink had to dive to the side to avoid being smashed by a downward strike of the naga's fist.

Having snuck around behind while she was distracted, Cid leapt off the balustrade, slamming his spear into Elena's side with all his strength. Shaking to remove him, Elena swung around, catching Cid with a backhand that sent him flying towards the wall. Moving in unison, Yuffie and Squall came in from opposite sides, Yuffie throwing her weapon to distract Elena as Squall came in and stabbed his Gunblade into the monstrous woman's side.

With a furious shriek, Elena raised her arms, intending to cast lightning, but as she did so, she was hit simultaneously by Yuffie's shuriken and Aerith's ice spell, interrupting her. Folding her arms across her chest, Elena's hair-snakes writhed in fury as she leaned back on her coils, her spiky scales protecting her from further attack by bladed weapons. Swinging her tail around, she slammed it into Squall, who wasn't fast enough to dodge, and Cid, who was just getting up from being slammed against the wall the first time. Yuffie and Aerith dodged; Yuffie by jumping over the tail again and Aerith by dropping flat to the ground.

Going down again, Cid was a little faster to get up this time and ran forward, spear at the ready as Elena lifted her hands, calling down lightning successfully this time. The group as a whole went down this time and taking advantage of their incapacitated state, Elena came forward out of her defensive coil to grab Yuffie by the ankle. Lifting her up, Elena stated, "I've always disliked you." With that, she threw the ninja at the wall, where she hit with a resounding thump.

While in the process of reaching for Squall, shots rang out. Wincing, Elena was driven back from her next target, allowing the three remaining to get to their feet again. More shots rang out, and slowly, pacing across the balcony, a figure in a dark suit stepped up beside Aerith, gun raised.

Turning to look at him, Aerith gasped, "Tseng!"

"A Turk?" Squall asked, unsure of this turn of events.

Elena scowled, "What are you doing?" she demanded, snake-hair writhing in an angry mass.

"...saving you," Tseng said softly, "From a terrible fate. It's all I can do now."

"Tseng..." Aerith said softly.

"There's nothing I can do to change her back," Tseng said, "This is the only mercy I can grant her now. She's not even the same person anymore. The Zolom has taken over her mind. I doubt she even knows who I am anymore."

"You," Elena hissed, "are an annoyance."

Lifting her hands, she grasped at the sky as she began to call lightning once more. As one, the five facing her began to move, Yuffie, who'd had time to recover climbing to her feet and running to flank, just as Cid and Squall were. Aerith and Tseng dashed after Yuffie, the Turk firing as he ran.

Interrupted in her casting once again, Elena screamed in rage, now angry beyond playing with her enemies. Swinging wildly, she aimed for Cid and Squall, and when she missed them, twisted her tail around to swipe at Tseng and Aerith. Hitting her second choice of targets, she was pegged in the back of the head by Yuffie's shuriken. Whirling around to face Yuffie, Elena bared down on the young ninja, swinging her hands to try to capture and kill the girl. Ducking, Yuffie avoided the first strike, and rolling to the side, she avoided being squashed by a palm-down slam. Leaping in to the rescue, Squall stabbed his Gunblade into – and through Elena's arm.

With a painful shriek, the monster-woman reared back, pulling her wounded limb out of Squall's reach, then turned to face Tseng as he began firing shots at her unprotected back once more. "You backstabbing -..." she ran out of vocabulary to curse him and instead launched another all-out attack on the Turk. Cid, recovered from the previous attack, stabbed Elena in the back, then sprang away as she flicked her tail at him. When Elena didn't pay any more attention than that to the attack, Cid came back in for another try, catching Elena beneath the shoulder blade.

Rolling her shoulders, she shrugged off the attack, too furious to notice the pain. Claws ready, Elena slashed at Tseng, driving him back towards the wall several steps at a time before finally he dodged to the side as her nails scraped against the metal of the tower wall. Turning to follow after him, Elena continued to pay no attention to her other attackers, "I will kill you!" she howled. "And I will drag your body in to Lord Rufus!"

"Elena!" Tseng called, "Stop this! This isn't you!"

Even more furious, she put on speed and finally caught Tseng, knocking him off his feet. Rising up to tower over him, she lifted her hands. In return, Tseng lifted his gun, taking careful aim as he lay on his back.

"Tseng!" Aerith shouted, but it was too late, the bolt of lightning went off just as Tseng fired his shot. As one, the group was dropped. For a moment, everything remained still, Squall, Aerith, Cid, and Yuffie too stunned to get up.

Slowly toppling forward, Elena landed on Tseng, who'd taken a direct shot and lay helpless below her.

"_Tseng_!" Aerith shouted, then put her hand to her mouth as she rolled to her knees slowly.

Silence fell and neither Elena, nor Tseng moved.

Squall, however, slowly got to his feet, "We don't have time..." he said as he limped towards the door, "We need to get moving."

Yuffie, biting her lower lip, collected her weapon and staggered to her feet as well. "...Aerith..." she said softly, looking between Aerith and the dead monster-woman.

"Damn," Cid drawled, "How'd he hill her with one shot?"

"We softened her up before," Squall pointed out.

Hands covering her mouth still, Aerith finally got up and stumbled after the others as they headed for the door. Looking back, she swallowed and blinked, a tear escaping her hold as she finally turned her back on a man she'd known for most of her life.

_'Goodbye...Tseng...'_

* * *

_AN: I'm so very sorry for taking so long on this, but life got in my way and ate all my free time. I'll try to have ch68 finished soon and posted. Promise! I've no intentions of letting this fic die!  
Also, if you see anything wrong, like grammar and stuff missing, please tell me, I'll fix it asap!_


	68. Revisits

_Chapter 68_

_(Revisits)_

They'd gotten out of Disney Castle safely, but then again, Kaiyou supposed that might be because they'd had Mickey's permission to leave.

_'Maybe... that wasn't such a good idea?'_ she mused, lifting a hand to touch her throat - and not finding her necklace as usual. Feeling naked without it, she dropped her hands back down to the controls of the Gummi ship as they headed through the path towards Twilight Town. _'Need to tell Vivi his message... and apologize to Hayner and the others.'_ Shaking her head, she forced her attention away from her muddled thoughts.

Kairi was seated to her left, Kosuiko was seated to her right, and Demyx was fiddling around behind her somewhere. _'Not sure I should really trust him, but I guess it's one more fighter to help...'_

They broke out into real-space.

"_Aros!_" Kairi shrieked, hands flying up to cover her eyes as a large shape appeared directly in front of them - something that shouldn't have been there. A shape that _hadn't_ been there when she'd gone through that portal last!

Kaiyou looked - and screamed too. Out of instinct, she jerked joystick forward, diving down just in time to miss hitting the side of a heartless battleship that was blockading the other side of a path of light that was already cleared and open.

Before she could even ask what the thing was doing in real-space, attacker ships came darting around the side of the behemoth battle ship, opening fire and hitting their ship with deafening booms. Desperately, Kaiyou spun the ship to the right in a barrel roll, dodging several shots from behind, then hit the trigger to drop mines out the back. Only a few hit the pursuing Heartless and after a quick glance at her warning screens, Kaiyou realized that there were far too many for her to count and ahead lay a sea of smaller Heartless battle ships, behemoth battle ships, and fighters, all apparently dug in for a good long stay.

It was a veritable sea of Heartless ships.

And they had no choice but to keep going forward.

The implications of the occupying force were a little beyond Kaiyou's current ability to ponder, seeing as how they were being dogged by Heartless fighter ship behind and more were darting in from the sides. A force of them were dead ahead, along with another battle ship Kaiyou was going to have to fly around. Even as she watched, though, hatches were opening on the side of the battle ship ahead of them and large round tubes were extending. No sir, she didn't like the looks of that, and pulled the triggers on the joystick to send missiles out to meet the oncoming fleet of Heartless.

Shots hit their tail again, sending the little Gummi ship spinning and Kaiyou hissed between her teeth as she fought to stabilize them. "Kairi! Man the weapons, I can't fly and shoot at the same time!"

Nodding, the redhead in her copilot's seat dropped her hands from her face and stared at the array of buttons, "How?" she squeaked as the ship tumbled again, hit by a shot from the battle ship ahead of them.

"Just push buttons!" Kaiyou shouted back, terrified.

Thankfully, Kairi did as told and started button mashing, shooting lasers and missiles at random. It was about as good a job as Kaiyou herself would have done, so she said nothing more on the subject while Demyx wailed and clutched the back of her seat.

Kosuiko...

Koko was quiet and calm, expression blank, perhaps contemplative.

Thankful that Kosuiko wasn't making a nusance of herself - probably with the help of Umi - Kaiyou turned back to the task at hand.

Now with their ship reliably firing back, the path ahead of them had cleared a little and Kaiyou stabilized the ship and hit the thrusters, diving down between the battle ship that was currently shooting at them still and one that was stationed near it.

"They're shooting each other!" Demyx announced, pretending relief at seeing that.

Yeah, it was a good thing, but ahead, more fighters had amassed in a nearly solid wall of Heartless ships - and they were heading towards Kaiyou's one little Gummi ship with intent to kill. She pulled the joystick back, sending their ship upwards - avoiding the first volley of shots fired at them. However, the Heartless wave continued to rush towards them for the attack.

"They're gaining on us, Aros!" Kairi cried out as Kaiyou tried desperately to concentrate on what she was doing.

_'Kaiyou! Abandon ship!'_

She only had the time to recognize Sora's voice before a final shot hit the ship and the screaming emergency sirens were combined with screams from her passengers and an explosion hurled her from her seat and landed hard on the edge of the teleportation pad. Kosuiko had gotten free of her seat and was clinging to Kairi - Kairi in return was gripping Demyx.

Then, darkness engulfed Kaiyou's vision.

* * *

"_Kaiyou! Abandon ship_!" 

"Wha-?" Zack yelped as he toppled from his seat in surprise. As he got up, he lifted his head and shoved his hair from his face, his glowing blue eyes focusing on his companion as Sora bashed frantically on the control panel with his fists.

"I have to – I've got to get to her! You stupid thing! You should be fixed by now!" Sora accused the unresponsive equipment.

"Woah – Woah!" Zack yelped again as the boy leapt back from the panel and in a flash of light, summoned his Keyblade. "No need to –" he started to protest as Sora reared back and hit the control panel with a solid blow that dented the casing.

"_WORK_!" Sora ordered even more loudly and reared back. He got off his second hit too quickly for Zack to intervene, and just as the Ex-SOLDIER was about to knock the younger boy down, the ship lurched. Lights sprang on around the cabin, and the entire control board lit up like Christmas. Before the two could get to their feet, the ship sprang into motion, hurtling through the Ether at a high rate of speed that sent both falling to the floor and rolling to the back of the bridge cabin. Outside, the Ether blurred into a multicolored smear.

Turning towards Zack, Sora grinned gleefully and stated, "Ha! I knew you hadn't _hit_ it hard enough!"

Climbing to his feet, Sora returned to the pilot's seat where he immediately sat and began fiddling with the dented controls. "Oops!" he uttered as he tried to move the joystick to steer the ship, only to find that the dented casing had jammed it into the forward position. "Looks like the only place we're going is straight ahead," looking back over his shoulder at Zack, Sora grinned cheerfully. "Better than not going at all, though, right?"

Sighing as he turned a chair and took a seat in it. "Have to say... you sure did spring back pretty quick."

Flipping a hand, Sora shrugged, "I had reason to," he answered, "People need me. I don't have the time to wallow around." Closing his eyes, he took a breath, "I'm still a little dizzy, but I think I'll be alright." Turning wide blue eyes towards Zack, he had to ask, "What... did they do to me? And who are you? Why did you save me?"

With a grin of his own, Zack folded his arms and sat back in his chair, "People need you," he repeated, "I guess you wouldn't have been worth stealing in the first place if you weren't important... Alright, I'll answer your questions first if you answer mine afterwards."

Nodding, Sora replied, "Sounds fair!"

"Alright... First, I'm Zack. Now... where to start. Well, let's put it this way... Every planet has a stream of souls that travel back and forth across the planet. Like... blood in our bodies. That guy, Hojo, put a whole lot of the planet's blood into you. Well, I think he did, though it didn't quite look the same as Mako on my world. I don't know, I'm no scientist. I just know that SOLDIERs are created by getting infused with Mako, which makes them stronger and faster."

Glowing blue eyes widening, Sora straightened, "Woah – _neat_!" he enthused, then looked briefly ahead, "I think we'll have to wait a bit to talk more," he pointed ahead, "Looks like forward has brought us to a world of some sort. We're going too fast, though. So we're going to have to abandon ship and see what we can get for transport there."

Turning, Zack looked out the front window at the swiftly approaching world, "If we don't die in the crash..."

"Nah," Sora replied cheerfully, "we can teleport off. By the readings, the ship should go right past the planet – close enough for us to hop off. But we gotta go now." Shaking his head, Sora put on a smile again, but it looked slightly strained. Getting to his feet once again, he dashed for the teleport pad and took a place on it. "C'mon! Before it's too late!"

Following, Zack picked up his sword from where it had fallen at the back of the cabin, along with his bag of supplies and stepped onto the pad. "So how's this thing-"

_FLASH!_

"OW!" Zack objected, dropping his things to cover his eyes, rubbing.

"I'm _home!_" Sora gasped.

Scrubbing his eyes a moment more, Zack finally lowered his hands to look around, finding himself in a small shack with a set of stairs behind him and the sound of the surf coming from somewhere outside. Sora, without waiting, pushed the door open and jogged out into the dull light beyond. Shaking his head in confusion, Zack picked up his things, pulling the sack across his back and carrying the sword, and followed the younger boy...

Only to step out into chaos.

Sora was already in motion, slashing with his Keyblade at the crawling Shadows.

There weren't many of them and the pair cleared the beach of Heartless in record time – Sora leaping from one to the next with a vicious abandon that frankly frightened Zack on some level, and Zack taking the creatures out methodically. Once the creatures were gone, though, Sora straightened, frowning deeply as he looked around. "I need to find Mom," he stated. "Something isn't right here." Looking towards Zack, his blue eyes wide, Sora continued, "Sorry to drag you into all of this..."

A grin pulling at his lips, Zack scratched the back of his head, "Nah! Not like I really have anything better to do. Besides, it looks like you need the help."

"Yeah," Sora admitted, then took a breath and set his shoulders. "Alright, we're going to the capital to talk to my mom. She needs to know about what I've been doing and what's been going on and a lot of other stuff so she can get things ready in case of an attack."

"And along the way, you'll answer my questions?"

"Sure," Sora answered with a grin.

Pondering for a time, Zack asked his first, "Alright, why're you so special?"

"I'm a Keyblade Master. I was chosen by the Keyblade to help protect the worlds against Darkness."

And so the questions went.

* * *

To be honest, Sora had been answering Zack's questions a little by rote. It wasn't like he'd not thought of these questions before – like why he'd been chosen and why he'd survived the destruction of his world. Unfortunately, while he'd asked the questions before, he still didn't know the answers and could really only give Zack guesses and admissions of ignorance on the subject. But finally, after getting across the water to the main island, Sora was leading his new friend through town towards the other side where the ferry would take them to the main land. There, they could catch a buss and head in to town. 

Sora's mind, in the meantime, was really on other subjects; such as getting off of this world and getting to Kaiyou's aid, wherever she was, which he really didn't know. _'I could ask Umi, but I'd have to wait for Kaiyou to remember something, and it may... be too late.'_ Swallowing, he shook his head, _'No, I'd know if she had died. She's not dead.'_ Sora also figured that he needed to speak with his mother just as urgently as he needed to get to Kaiyou. _'I have to find out what she did to me and whether she can UNDO it. I need to remember everything or I'm going to get in trouble!'_

Zack, on the other hand, wasn't so lost in thought to not notice that there was something wrong. While the main island had no Heartless infestations, there were few people on the street. Those that were, had a hurried look about them, as if terrified to be out in the open. They scurried from one shop to the next and didn't give anyone else on the road a second look. No one had given even Zack and Sora one glance, even though he was carrying a very large sword and dressed in a fashion that was far from what seemed normal for this world Sora came from. And Sora was still carrying his Keyblade though he didn't seem to have noticed that. And something else was bothering him...

"It's nervous," he said out loud.

Sora, broken from his thoughts, looked back over his shoulder at Zack, "What?"

"The atmosphere. There's something wrong. Everyone's nervous."

At Zack's explanation, Sora paused to give the taller dark-haired man a long look. "You think so?" he mused, then looked around.

Pondering that for a moment longer, Sora nodded slightly, "Maybe... we should stop by my house and see if Cid and Edea know anything?" Before Zack could respond, Sora had dashed off, changing course suddenly.

"Cid...Highwind?" Zack replied slowly, confused now. Wasn't Cid Highwind an airship captain for ShinRa? Though, now that Zack thought about it, Cid had gotten transferred to the space program, which subsequently had gotten scrapped after that failed first launch some time ago.

Realizing belatedly that Sora had run off, Zack looked around quickly and spotted the boy running off down a side-street and hurried after.

Entering a row of houses in an expansive neighborhood, Sora headed straight down the street, then cut to the right, running up to the front door of a house that looked just like all the others. The place reminded Zack of Kalm, a village near Midgar. Mostly, it was the identical Tudor styled houses. Without knocking, Sora shoved the front door open and shouted, "Cid! Edea! Are you here?"

"Sora?" a woman's voice called from inside and Zack cautiously stepped in and closed the door behind him. The house he found himself in was a neat place with wood paneled walls and hardwood floors. The stairs leading to the second floor were located slightly to the right of the front door, the living room opening directly to the left. A dark haired woman came out of a room beyond the living room, which Zack supposed was the kitchen.

"Edea," Sora breathed in relief as the woman wove between the couches and coffee table to wrap her arms around Sora, hugging him tightly.

Pulling back, she frowned at him with dark eyes. "Where have you been?" Edea demanded, "You've had your mother worried sick!"

"I'm sorry but I don't have much time to explain. I need to talk to Mom," Sora started. "I need to tell her I found Dad and my sister."

Edea's eyes widened. "You – found Laguna?"

Nodding, Sora lifted his hands, grasping Edea's. "Yeah. But I need to know what's going on here."

Sighing softly, Edea shook her head, her long black waves swaying behind her. She was a slender woman with a moon-shaped face and dark eyes - a pretty woman, in Zack's estimation, for a woman in her forties. "The Black Things are back," she started, "The ones that attacked the day the world disappeared. There's also an insane clown that has taken over the capital with an army of the things. He has your mother hostage."

"Mom!" Sora gasped, "I have to save her!"

Edea gripped Sora's shoulders, "No – you'll only get killed. The Gardens have called the SeeD's out to deal with it – even..." she paused. "The SeeD's aren't making much of a difference against those things."

"I can, though," Sora insisted, looking at her firmly. "I've got the Keyblade. I've got Zack too. He'll watch my back." Darting forward, he hugged Edea, then stepped back. "I've got to go. Sorry!"

Sighing, the woman replied, "Wait – Sora. There's something you have to know first..."

"What?"

Opening her mouth, she seemed caught, debating what to say, or how exactly to say it. Shaking her head finally, Edea finally simply stated, "be careful. Saving worlds is in your blood."

Grinning, Sora replied, "Yeah, I know!" Turning, he headed back out the door.

Shrugging, Zack grinned at the woman, "I'll take care of him."

In return, she nodded. Without waiting for anything further, Zack turned, heading after Sora before the boy got too far ahead. Behind, Edea closed the front door and locked it once more.

* * *

"...yeah, it's him alright. The fake." 

"Hayner, be nice." The voice was female, and she recognized it from somewhere...

"Hey, I think he's waking up," said another boy from her left.

An explosion shook the ground, but it was a dull roar, some distance from her current location. Nausea washed over her as she was prodded firmly with a finger.

Opening her eyes, Kaiyou realized she was lying on her back, staring up at a ceiling she didn't immediately recognize.

Peripheral vision began to finally sink in, and she finally recognized her location. As well as the faces looming over her - Hayner leaned in closer, scowling. "I can't believe you had the nerve to come back here after lying to us."

Swallowing, Kaiyou desperately wished to sink into the floor and looked towards Pence, who was kneeling on the floor beside her, and to her right where Olette was. "I..." Kaiyou started, voice cracking. "I can explain..."

Slowly sitting up, Kaiyou slid back away from the three - putting some distance between herself and them. "I... I got knocked in the head," she admitted, "I didn't know who I was. Donald and Goofy... they called me Sora. I - I assumed I was." Shaking her head, she looked down. "I'm sorry for lying. It was wrong..."

Hayner sat back, folding his arms. "Where _are_ Donald and Goofy?" he asked.

Wincing, Kaiyou replied, "I left them at Disney Castle..." Lifting her eyes, she looked around, finding that she was the only one from her party in Hayner's hangout. "...Have you seen Kairi?" she asked. "She was with me, and Kosuiko and Demyx."

Shaking her head, Olette replied, "No, you were the only one that transported in here."

Feeling as if the ground had fallen out from under her and her heart had just been punched from her chest, Kaiyou clutched her shoulders, feeling cold and pale.

_'No... no no no! They're okay! They've GOT to be okay!'_

"What's wrong?"

Shivering, Kaiyou shook her head, slowly getting to her feet. "I need to find them. Kairi can't really fight, Kosuiko is about brainless and Demyx is nearly useless," she said bluntly. "I have to find them before something happens."

Taking a step towards the door, Kaiyou stopped as Olette jumped to her feet, throwing herself against the other girl, "No! Don't go out there! It's too dangerous!" she begged, "There're Heartless everywhere!"

Closing her eyes as nausea hit her, Kaiyou swallowed as she recalled the sea of Heartless ships that had surrounded the world. "...crap," she muttered under her breath, "Wonderful way to start the day."

Swallowing, she reached down into her side-pack, digging for a healing potion. Maybe it was a waste of a potion just to take care of a little headache and nausea, but if she couldn't see straight... she certainly couldn't fight. "I've got no choice, Olette," Kaiyou said as she pulled out the potion. Stepping back, the other girl looked up at Kaiyou, green eyes shining. "I've gotta find Kairi and Koko... Especially Koko. I _need_ her."

"Now wait a moment," Hayner objected, "You haven't even told us who you really are. You're not going anywhere till you tell us that much at least!"

Biting her lower lip as she cracked the potion on herself, "Call me Aros," she said softly. Turning to look over her shoulder at Hayner, she added, "and I'm Sora's twin."

Narrowing his eyes as he folded his arms, Hayner stated, "Where's Sora?"

Unable to help it, Kaiyou winced and looked away, "I don't know. He... got lost while defending another world. He's okay though."

"Like I can trust you, Liar," Hayner snapped.

Frowning, Olette objected, "Stop it. Don't call him that, Hayner. He's probably the only help we're going to get."

"...help?" Kaiyou asked, then turned to face them, "What do you need help with?"

"Well," Hayner gestured blandly with a hand, "the world is under attack by Heartless. We can't really go anywhere - we're lucky we've not been discovered here."

Biting her lower lip, Kaiyou winced, "oh. Yes. I'll help. Of course I'll help." Nodding slightly, she turned towards the door and paused, "Know if anyone else has survived?"

"Don't know," Pence replied, speaking up for the first time. "But... I can't fight, and neither can Olette. What do we do?"

Pressing her lips together as she stared at the curtain covering the doorway. "We need to find a way to get off of this place. The ship I had... is probably trash. We ran through a sea of Heartless ships on the way in..." _'God I hope they're alive!'_ Taking a breath, she continued, "Our best bet is to get to Yen Sid's place." _'Even if Yen Sid is at Disney Castle, maybe there's a spare Gummi Ship there...? it's a chance at least!' _Flexing her fingers, she took a few breaths before continuing, "We need to find you two weapons of some sort, though." Finally turning to face the others, she looked from Olette to Pence and said, "Don't think of it as killing. You're helping them. What they are now is unnatural and they need to be released to return to normal. Okay? You won't be hurting them at all. They... they're intent on hurting you, though, so don't hesitate. Fight hard as you can."

Nervously, Olette nodded and after a moment, Pence did as well. Hayner didn't look too pleased still. But Kaiyou, after thinking a moment, held out her hand, calling her first Keyblade to it. "Here, Hayner, you use this."

Eyes widening, Hayner slowly reached out his hands, taking hold of the Keyblade. "...it's heavier than I thought it'd be..."

"Yes. All the better to cause blunt-force trauma with, my friend," Kaiyou replied sarcastically, then bit her lips as she blushed. Pence chuckled a little, Olette covered her mouth. Meanwhile, Kaiyou began to rifle through her side-packs, hunting for something else that might serve as weapons. "I don't have anything else," she finally admitted. Licking her lips, Kaiyou stated, "Looks like we'll just have to protect those two as best we can. Okay?"

Frowning slightly still, Hayner finally stated, "I'm still not happy with how you lied to us. If you're not still lying to us."

Looking down, Kaiyou stated, "Well, then I guess you're just not going to be happy," she said softly, "As there doesn't seem to be a way I can change your mind." Turning towards the door, she lifted her head, calling her Keyblade, Twilight's Edge, to her hand as she headed towards the door. "We head for the train station," she told them. "...though if we find anyone else along the way..."

"yeah," Hayner agreed a little quietly.

"Let's go then." Taking a breath, Kaiyou stated, "Olette, Pence, stick close."

Pausing, she looked down at her side-packs, "Actually. Is there a store that has potions? We need supplies and if the world is overrun by Heartless, then I think theft is more than justified."

"Yeah, there's a shop just down the street," Olette replied immediately.

Nodding, Kaiyou stated, "Then we'll stop there first," then took her courage in hand and stepped out, looking around carefully for any signs of movement.

After nothing happened, she stepped further out and the others followed, Olette and Pence trying to stay in the center of the group. Hayner was at Kaiyou's left.

Predictably, the air exploded with portals of darkness and from those portals squirmed nine Dusks. Dropping into a fighting stance, Kaiyou leapt forward, heading for the first Dusk to get in her way.

"Just like Struggle!" Hayner told himself firmly, then leapt forward, swinging the Keyblade he held in a wide ark. The dusk he connected with fell over, then got back up. "Ah! Just Go Away!" he shouted this time and attacked again. Kaiyou, after sparing him a glance, rammed her Keyblade through the Dusk she'd engaged with first, then spun, catching another across the face with her blade. It too died quickly. She was forced to leap aside as two came at her simultaneously, but darting around behind one, she sliced it in half just as Hayner finished off his first with a solid crack to the Nobody's head.

A shriek behind him made Hayner spin around to find Olette and Pence backed against a wall with three of the remaining six Nobodies advancing towards them. Running to the rescue, Hayner knocked one over, but it spun and twisted on the ground, getting back to its feet easily. With three Nobodies ganging up on her, Kaiyou blocked their repeated attacks with the flat of her blade as she was driven back towards the wall. Shoving back against the next set of attacks, she turned and in a fast sprint, ran up the wall, then shoved off - flipping over her attackers. Landing behind, she sliced the middle of the trio in half before springing up and taking out the one to the left.

The Nobody to her right spun and twisted away, putting some distance between them. "Aros!" Hayner shouted, "Help!"

Looking his direction, she winced as she found Hayner barely holding off three Nobodies with Pence and Olette behind him. Dashing over, Kaiyou slammed her Keyblade through one and yanked to the right, severing it in a quick blow. Spinning her blade around, she slapped aside one that was reaching for Olette and followed up the attack with a thrust to its face. The Nobody disappeared quickly, followed by the one that was still attacking Hayner as the boy slapped it hard across the stomach.

Together, Hayner and Kaiyou lunched at the remaining Nobody, skewering it swiftly, and as it disappeared, Kaiyou straightened. "Keep moving," she ordered, feeling uncomfortable at telling these three to do anything, _'But I'm in charge of their safety now... ...oh Umi. Where are you?'_

Turning, Hayner started off down the alley, heading towards the main road, but once beyond the gate, Kaiyou skidded to a halt, mouth falling open. "Dear - _god_!" she gasped, watching as thorny vines continued to grow upwards, twisting around the bell-tower. The sky was a bloody red with fires sending dark smoke into the sky. Buildings were toppled, most nearly completely destroyed, having been bombed in the attack. The smell of burning flesh wafted past Kaiyou and she choked, eyes watering, and even as she covered her mouth, her gaze wandered, picking out human shapes buried partially in the rubble. "This - this is awful!" she said, covering her mouth, eyes watering.

Pressing her lips together, she lowered her hand, "I'll get you guys out of here! I promise!" With renewed resolve, Kaiyou set her shoulders, "And I'll come back later and get whoever did this. ...Sora's going to be _mad_," she stated firmly, then shook her head. "But... _Roxas_ is going to be totally pissed."

* * *

_AN: Okay dudes and dudettes. I'm SO sorry it's been taking me so damn long to get anything posted. It's my job, school, and life in general eating my time, my brain, and my inspiration. So... I'm also really sorry if this chapter seemed kind of sucky. I tried. Really I did! And also sorry that I keep promising Riku and not delivering but I realized that I need to set up some stuff first. Riku will be soon! (and he won't like it)_


	69. Revelations and Decisions: Part 2

_Chapter 69_

_(Revelations and Decisions: part 2)_

Climbing through the rubble strewn about the streets, Kaiyou tried to ignore the stench of burning and rotting flesh, the feel of soot mixed with the sweat on her skin, and grit clinging to her fingers. They'd gotten into yet another fight with the Heartless and Nobodies before even getting near the shop Hayner was leading them to, and in that fight, Olette had gotten scratched fairly badly on the arm. Pence was with her, helping he over obstacles and the like, but she needed a potion and Kaiyou didn't have any more. Pence wasn't doing too well either, he was obviously sickened by the destruction, but trying to remain strong for Olette. Hayner...

Hayner was struggling to keep going through tears and nausea.

Kaiyou didn't blame any of them one bit. She didn't know any of these people, but she was still disgusted by the carnage. Whoever had done this needed to die.

"Here," Hayner said at long last as they climbed through a pile of rubble that blocked the way to the partially destroyed shop. Looking down, Kaiyou paused, finding something green hidden partially beneath a stone. Pulling the stone aside, her sweaty fingers slipping on their grip the first time, she pulled out the item. Breathing in relief as she found the potion in good condition, Kaiyou tossed it to Olette, who startled, tried to catch it, only to have it pop in her hands, sending green dust all over her. Surprised, she looked at her arm, wiping the blood from it to reveal solid flesh.

"Thanks, Aros," she said faintly.

_'We're all going to need counseling after this one...'_ Kaiyou couldn't help but think sadly as she began hunting through the debris for more potions and the like. _'It's only a good thing Kairi isn't here. I doubt she could handle it... I hope she's alright... Sora will kill me if something happened to her!'_ After a moment, the other three began to as well. Only coming up with a few, Kaiyou dropped them into her sidepacks, then looked around for signs of danger while the others continued their hunt. Olette got lucky and found a bag amongst the rubble and began putting anything she could find into it. That was fine with Kaiyou. Having the two non-combatants carry a majority of the stuff seemed like a solid plan to her.

"Nice of _you_ to show up, Sora," sneered a voice, and Kaiyou spun around, heart in her throat.

Seifer leapt down from his perch atop a broken wall and started forward. Behind him, Rai, Fuu, and Vivi climbed up and over the wall, Rai pausing to catch Vivi as the little black mage dropped down. "Seifer," Kaiyou greeted.

Striding forward, Seifer reached out grasping the front of Kaiyou's shirt, pulling her to her toes as he leaned in. "You've got a lot of nerve," he snarled.

"Seifer!" Kaiyou objected, eyes wide, "I-"

"You've got a lot of nerve calling in the monsters like this and then running around pretending to save us from them!" Seifer shouted, shaking her forcefully.

Grasping his wrist uselessly, Kaiyou took a breath only to have the stench of death filling her lungs, clinging to the back of her throat. That taste, ironically, gave her strength, "How dare you!" she shouted back at him, "I've got nothing to do with this!"

"How the hell do we know that for sure?" the blonde demanded, leaning in closer, breathing on her face. "I never liked you from the beginning and this is just further proof that I was right!"

This only made Kaiyou furious, and in her fury, she grasped Seifer's thumb, yanking back on it to break his grip on her shirt. "Look you – just because you've got a bone to pick with Squall doesn't mean you've got a right to take it out on me!"

Startled enough to let Kaiyou back away several steps, Seifer stared at her, "What do _you_ know about Squall?"

"I know enough," Kaiyou replied flatly, "but now isn't really the time to talk about that. We have to get out of here."

Irritated, Seifer scowled, clenching his fists as he snapped, "You tell me what you know now or I'll pound your face!"

"Get your head out of your butt and look at the facts! We need to deal with this-" she gestured wildly at the landscape, "Right now. Are you going to help or not?"

Drawn back to reality, Seifer looked around, as if having forgotten where he was for a moment, then turned another scowl on Kaiyou. "What can we do about it? This world's dead. Everyone but us is dead."

"We can still save ourselves," Olette decided to speak up.

Pence nodded, "We're going to the train station – Aros thinks there's some way to get out of here from there."

Abruptly, Seifer began to laugh, "Station? What station? What's not covered in thorns has half a ship lodged into it!"

Kaiyou paled. "Is the ship... Red and yellow by chance?" _'Kairi! Koko... Oh god. I hope they're ...not...'_

"Yeah," Seifer sneered. "Let me guess... yours?" Kaiyou didn't have to answer that one to make Seifer begin laughing hysterically.

"There still may be a way!" Kaiyou snapped, unnerved by witnessing the boy's breakdown. _'They have to be okay. I have to believe that. I have to!'_

"Like hell!" Seifer snapped, abruptly stopping his laughter to say. "We may as well just give up and die!"

"Is that any way for SeeD to act?" Kaiyou asked, knowing it was a really low blow, but hoping that he remembered his other life.

Her words only infuriated him further and launching towards her, he grabbed her shoulders in a pinching grip. "What the hell would you know?" he demanded.

"Be quiet!" Hayner interrupted, "we may get the attention of more than we can handled if you keep that up!"

Shoving Kaiyou away, Seifer snapped, "Let them come! We're all going to die here anyway. It's only a question of _when_!" He started cackling again.

"Not if we work together!" Olette objected once more, coming forward to stare up at him. "Seifer – please don't just give up!"

"Futile," Fuu stated blandly, apparently agreeing with Seifer.

Rai, who'd yet to say anything, folded his arms and shook his head, "Seifer's right, ya'know. There's just not much we can do... y'know...?"

Kaiyou shook her head, "Maybe we can fix the ship up enough to get off the planet," she offered, "There's still hope. We have to have hope! ... without it, there's nothing but Darkness."

Seifer stubbornly shook his head. "I don't want to be responsible for you idiots." At that, Olette, Hayner, and Pence began pleading with Seifer. Kaiyou tuned them out, though, briefly getting lost in an internal struggle.

Biting her lower lip, she took a breath, tasting death in the air and Darkness was creeping in the shadows. This world's only source of Light was the people she was standing next to.

_'If I let them down and we all die here... THAT would be my fault. I'd have failed this entire world. There would be no apologizing to Roxas and Sora after that...'_

"Please, Seifer!"

"No!"

"Not even if I promised to take you to Squall soon as we get off this world?" Kaiyou said, staring at the ground as she spoke.

_'Not like Squall wasn't referring to me as an IT and a TOOL right in front of me before. It's only fair that I use him right back.'_

Once again, Seifer grabbed the front of her shirt, "What did you say?"

"I said," she repeated slowly, lifting her eyes to look straight into his, "Not even if I promised to take you to Squall soon as we're out of here?"

Seifer remained silent for a long moment as he stared at her – then seemed to gasp softly under his breath as a light came on for him. He gave a feral grin as he muttered, "I get it now..." Letting go of her, he stepped back, folding his arms, "Fine. I'll hold you to that promise."

Straightening her shirt, Kaiyou replied, "No worries about that."

"I can't believe you'd betray your own brother like that," Seifer prodded.

Shaking her head, Kaiyou could only say, "Nothing he's not already done to me." Biting her lips together, she stopped herself from saying anything further. _'Boy, he's going to be surprised when he meets Squall...'_ Turning to look at Hayner, Pence, and Olette, she asked, "Gotten everything you can find?"

"Y-yeah..." Hayner said slowly, looking at her distrustfully. Kaiyou could already tell that she'd just lost a lot of standing with him by making that deal.

_'Deal the devil's way to make deals with him... I had no choice. We weren't going to convince him any other way!'_ she told Hayner in her mind, then changed the subject. "We should move, then. We haven't got much time to waste." With that, Kaiyou started off, heading up the street this time, back the way they'd come.

* * *

_'Maybe stealing the bike wasn't the best of ideas?'_ Riku mused as he dodged another spike in his path. Behind, he could hear the roar of the other bike as he sped across the uneven ground. Ahead, Riku could see the spike of Rufus's tower, looming over the broken landscape, but so much distance spanned between him and the castle, all of it rocky and full of cliffs. He was currently trapped in a path between steep gray walls. He could have climbed them, sure, but didn't have the time and certainly couldn't take the bike up there. The ground was uneven, making his ride bumpy and teeth-jarring and piles of rubble and spires of rock jutted up from the ground, keeping him from putting on as much speed as the bike could produce. 

He'd left his father, Cloud, and Tifa behind - far behind, but there was no going back now. He only hoped that they had the sense to keep going while he led these two off...

_'Why they're so dead-set on getting ME though...'_

A dark shape collected beside him, black smoke and shadow rising up from the ground, forming into a black beast. Turning its head, it looked at him with bright yellow eyes. Narrowing his own eyes at it, Riku called his Keyblade and angled his bike towards it, slashing. "Die!" he told it and cut its head off. Others were forming, however, and deciding that he didn't have time to play with them, Riku revved the bike.

Behind, he heard the roar of Yazoo's bike, straining to keep up with Riku. Loz was still clinging to the back of his brother's seat, waiting for the chance to get closer and hop bikes once again.

Speeding between a cluster of rock spires, Riku dodged to the left, then right, avoiding head-on collisions, and barely missing getting swiped by one of the shadow beasts as it exploded in a puff of smoke. Another went through a spire and leapt over him.

Looking back over his shoulder briefly, Riku switched hands on the bike, focusing his power in his right, then waited for a clear stretch to turn partially and fire a shot of twilight back at his pursuers. Yazoo deftly dodged his bike to the side, avoiding the blast, which exploded with the ground, sending up a plume of rocks and dirt. In return, Yazoo leveled his gunblade and fired off two shots. One missed, the other struck the handle bar of Riku's bike, briefly making him lose control.

"Crap!" Riku snapped as he fought the heavy machine back on course, but it was too late, he was fishtailing to the left and heading straight towards a wall. Looking ahead and searching for a way out of this situation - some way of saving his skin, Riku finally yanked the bike back around to the right and narrowly avoided hitting the wall. Yazoo moved to cut him off, firing his gun a few more times as Riku revved the engine gaining speed once more.

Ducking as a shadow beast dived over his head, Riku called his Keyblade once more and slashed at it, cutting it in half. The creature dissipated into smoke, but others took its place. Unable to count their numbers as they shifted forms - recombining and splitting with each other at random - Riku just went as hard and fast as he could get the bike to go. Yazoo, having caught up finally, was now running beside him, Loz staring intently, the large man readying to make a leap for Riku's bike. Scowling right back at the two, Riku suddenly slammed the breaks just as Yazoo angled in to bring his bike closer.

Fishtailing again, Riku sped off towards the center of the ravine as Yazoo slowed to let Riku catch up again, then sped up once more to pull up beside him.

"Oh no you don't..." Riku growled as he shot forward, aiming for a pile of rocks that looked like it might be a ramp, which was the last obstacle blocking his way before a dark tunnel. _'If I can get enough speed, I may be able to make it up on to the level above.'_ A shadow beast loomed up ahead of him and slashing with his Keyblade, Riku cut it down before it could do any harm.

Leaning forward, Riku suddenly yanked back on the handle bars of the bike, pulling it into a wheelie. He hit the rock pile, and as he did, Riku put on as much speed as he could - shooting into the air, Yazoo not far behind.

_'Oh Hyne! NOT going to make it!'_ he realized as soon as he was airborne. The bike's trajectory was at least two feet below what he needed to be to make the jump. Glancing back long enough to see that Yazoo's bike was even worse off - having more weight on it, Riku gave up on the bike.

With a grin, he gathered himself and leapt, the explosion of his bike throwing him farther forward than he'd intended to go. Hitting the ground hard, he rolled quite some ways before getting his feet under him and rolling into a crouch, then slowly stood.

Of Loz and Yazoo there was no immediate sign. Worried by this, since Riku knew he likely wasn't going to shake them that easily, he stood ready, blade in his right hand.

Quickly ducking, Riku dodged a bullet that flew over his head from behind, then brought his Keyblade back to deflect the second. Spinning around to face Yazoo, who'd apparently leapt over him when they'd hit the wall below, Riku deflected a third bullet and side-stepped as Loz appeared beside him in a blur and attacked from the left. Swiftly stepping back in, Riku slashed at Loz, but missed as the big man sprang away and quick-stepped past Riku's next attack.

Unable to keep up with Loz, Riku deflected two more of Yazoo's bullets and dived under Loz's punch.

"Big brother," Loz whined as he paused briefly in his attack, "Come back to us..."

Riku scowled at the big man.

"Big brother," Yazoo pleaded softly, "You belong with us..."

Taking a breath to retort, Riku snapped, "I'm not-"

Pain suddenly stole his breath and Riku stepped back, clutching his head. Stabbing his Keyblade into the ground, Riku leaned on it as his knees went weak. Silence fell - a large meaty hand gripped his shoulder, steadying him.

Opening his eyes slowly, Riku took a slow breath, then straightened. "Big brother?" the large man asked, leaning in.

Standing there, Riku looked up at the worried expression the big man wore.

_'They're not attacking...'_ This was strange.

"Loz," another voice stated and Riku lifted his head to look as the fist-fighter stepped back, shuffling away from Riku as if he'd had his hand slapped. Pushing his shoulders back, Riku faced the new man, his breath catching slightly as he stared into the face of another silver-haired warrior.

Long hair floating in the breeze that crept past like a scared animal, and Masamune glittering in the stark sunlight of the morning, Sephiroth stood, his lips quirked into a smirk that didn't reach his eyes. "Kadaj," he greeted, "How pleasant to see you again."

Shaking his head firmly, Riku stated, "I'm not Kadaj."

"Oh... but you are," Sephiroth replied firmly. "And you are going to serve me."

The silver haired man smirked as he lifted his black wing out, then resettled it more comfortably on his back as Loz and Yazoo moved to brace him, the gunner standing on Sephiroth's left while Loz stood on his right.

Gaze shifting from one to the other, Riku lifted his Keyblade, eyes narrowing. "Like hell," he stated finally.

Eyes having never left his prey, Sephiroth intoned, "You dare defy my will?"

"Yeah," Riku sneered, "I don't play puppet for anyone these days. Sorry to disappoint."

Blue-green eyes falling half-lidded, Sephiroth stated, "Pity. I'll have to kill you now."

Without another word, he exploded into motion so fast he left a flurry of black feathers in his wake, Masamune glinting in the sunlight as he lashed out at Riku.

Pure instinct had Riku dodging away in a roll, barely managed to avoid getting sliced. He almost didn't have time to get to his feet again before Sephiroth attacked once more. He almost seemed to teleport as he darted out to slice at Riku from behind. Staggering from that attack, Riku spun to deflect Sephiroth's next attack, Keyblade and Masamune ringing together briefly before the Prince of Darkness darted back and disappeared again in a flurry of black feathers. In pain, Riku moved instinctively to block the next attack. As a result, it was sloppy and Masamune's curved tip slid past his block to catch across Riku's chest.

Shoving Sephiroth's blade aside, Riku dived backwards, gathering his energy to throw a blast-wave of Twilight energy at Sephiroth. The resulting explosion rocked the ground beneath them - ground that had already been shaken by the double explosions of the bikes against it.

The ground began to shake, and Riku rolled to his feet, making a run for stable ground.

Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough, and the ground slid out from beneath him as it collapsed into the tunnel and ravine below. Slamming his Keyblade into the side of the cliff, Riku held on for dear life as he slid downwards, rocks falling all around him, bouncing off his shoulders as he ducked his head, feet scrabbling against the loose rock and dirt.

As he neared the ground, he shoved off, back-flipping away from the wall and into the cloud of dust that had risen up from the collapse. Landing in a crouch, he straightened and ducked as a sharp blade sliced the air over his head, nipping the ends of his hair off. Focusing his power again, Riku cast Fire this time, using the Materia he still had equipped in his wrist-guard. Firing automatically at a shadow in the dust, Riku cursed under his breath as he was forced to duck another swing of Masamune from behind - apparently, he'd missed.

Shrieking pain smashed through his head then, tearing through his mind like a whirlwind of knives. Staggering, Riku lifted a hand to grip his skull, thinking he'd gotten hit. But as the pain continued, he realized that this was all in his head.

_"Submit to me,"_ he was told firmly and slammed forcefully against the ground. Power surrounded him, and desperately, Riku fought against it; fought to retake possession of his mind as he felt someone ripping through it.

Gritting his teeth, Riku clutched the ground, panting for breath as he refused to scream. Slowly, he pushed himself up onto his hands and knees as the dust from the collapse finally cleared in a gust of wind. Resisting the pressure of Sephiroth's will. "Submit!" the ex-general ordered, standing a short distance away. In his hand, he held another sword – a double bladed katana. "And take your place as my lieutenant.

Deftly, the Prince tossed the sword to Riku, who watched it land in the dust before him.

It was a strange sword, but it looked vaguely familiar.

"Never!" Riku gasped and was slammed into the ground again.

Sephiroth stalked closer, lifting Masamune.

"If you do not submit... I will have to kill you."

The man's presence of will increased, pressing Riku harder into the ground, squeezing the breath out of him, and darkness crept in on the edges of Riku's vision.

Closing his eyes tightly, Riku reached for his heart - reached for the power – the will – to resist.

* * *

It had been a long, difficult struggle to get to the top of the hill. 

And it wasn't just because of the Heartless, nor was it just because of the rubble blocking their paths.

Tired, both emotionally and physically, Kaiyou glanced back at the rest of her troop, jaw tightening as her gaze went from Pence and Olette to Vivi, then to Hayner, Seifer, Fuu and Rai.

Finding no comfort in any of her current companions, Kaiyou turned to look at what lay ahead of them.

They'd just fought off one massive attack and they were almost out of potions, despite all the ones they'd picked up. Kaiyou had gotten Vivi to work with her, him casting spells off her magically reflective clothes while she tore into the ranks of Heartless and Nobodies physically. Seifer, Fuu, and Rai worked well together and needed no additional help from either her or Vivi. Hayner, however, was struggling. He was a good fighter, but not the greatest and he needed a rest...

All of them needed a rest. It was wrapped in thorny vines; tightly gripped in their deadly embrace. An impenetrable embrace, it seemed.

...Just when they didn't have the time to fool around.

Staring at the blocked door of the train station, Kaiyou swallowed.

"Oh... how do we get in?" Olette asked, speaking the question on everyone's minds.

Pence put in, "We should try cutting them," he suggested, just as Hayner ran up and stabbed the vines with his Keyblade. Several more times, he hacked at the vines with little effect.

"What about burning them?" Olette offered.

Hayner, panting, stepped back to allow Vivi a chance at the vines.

Holding out his staff, Vivi swirled it a few times, then leapt, throwing a blast of fire at the wall of vines. When the smoke cleared, the group let out a breath of despair as they stared at the untouched obstacle.

"We can't climb through them..." Rai observed. "What else is there to do?"

"Yeah, _Aros_," Seifer sneered. "What do we do now? This was your bright idea anyway."

Gritting her teeth as she tried not to loose her temper – and more importantly, tried not to burst out crying at them – Kaiyou turned her back on them to look at the offending thorns. _'How ARE we going to get through them?'_ she wondered.

But, like before, Umi did not answer.

Umi was not there.

_'Alone. In the end... like always... I'm alone...'_

_'NO!'_

Kaiyou looked up, hand going to her chest as _his_ voice rattled through her.

The voice... It didn't feel like Sora or Roxas or Umi. The voice – no, the presence – was male, and dark, but not fully so. It was twilight that had touched her – called to her – and the only one who felt like that was Riku. "Riku?" she whispered, closing her eyes. _'Riku!'_ it was him, she knew it was. It had to be!

_'Kaiyou?'_

Yes, it was indeed Riku, and her heart leapt as she identified him. Squeezing her eyes tightly shut, she reached for him with her heart, and found herself standing in darkness.

* * *

Darkness wrapped around him, sending chills through his body. Riku opened his eyes slowly. No. They were already open. 

_'You see,'_ a voice murmured in the Darkness, _'There is no future. Only me.'_

"No!" Riku shouted back, grasping for what identity he could. The world exploded into shards of colors – shards of memory. Fighting Cloud. Channeling Sephiroth. Kidnapping children. Infecting them with a virus.

Horrible things he'd done to a man and woman he didn't know.

Tseng and Elena.

Turning quickly, Riku tried to turn away from these memories. "No!" he shouted. "They're not mine!" He didn't want to watch.

_'But they are.'_

"No!" Riku shrieked, covering his head with both hands as he crouched, trying to block out what he knew was true. Everything... The body had changed... but not by much.

"Yes."

Looking up, Riku's eyes met Sephiroth's as the one-winged monster stood over him.

"No..." this time, as the memories began to sink in, Riku sat on the ground, hands sliding down his hair. He felt cold all over, but one spot of warmth. Fingers trailing down from his head, he felt the soft strands of his hair give way to the slight stubble on his jaw, then encounter the high neck of his shirt. Finally, he touched it.

Clasping lightly around the sharp, hot, little diamond pendant at his throat, Riku closed his eyes. _'No...'_ he denied once again as the pressure of Sephiroth's will began to crush him, painfully pressing him into the ground.

_"Riku!"_

In his hand, the pendant brightened, refracting light between his fingers, her arms slipped around his shoulders.

_"Riku! Don't give up hope!"_

"So you see, Kadaj..." Sephiroth said, "What you consider your life has all been a lie." The Prince of darkness stalked closer, "Vincent was never your father, and never loved you. You have no reason to remain with these traitors."

"Kadaj – please come back," Yazoo pleaded.

"Shut _up_," the boy shouted, "All of you just shut up!"

Her light glimmered inside his heart – no...

It was his light. The light he'd thought he'd lost track of, buried so deep inside. But she – Kaiyou – was there, making it stronger. Her choker was warm against his neck, a pulsing pleasant heat, like the beating of her broken heart.

Grasping it, the boy pushed himself to his knees and threw his attack at Sephiroth, putting behind it every ounce of his will to live a free individual.

The attack was unexpected, and Sephiroth wrapped his wing around himself as he was hit, his concentration broken long enough for Riku to slowly get to his feet again, his eyes falling upon the vaguely familiar sword. Reaching out, he took hold of it and called his Keyblade into his right hand, holding both at ready.

"So, what will it be, Kadaj? Me, or death?" Sephiroth asked.

"You... _are_ death!" Riku shouted as he suddenly leapt forward. "My life may have been a lie – but my friends aren't, and I _won't ever be used again!_"

Exploding into motion, Riku sliced the double bladed katana at Sephiroth, meeting the older warrior's blade. They held there for a moment, then Sephiroth stepped forward, shoving Riku off balance. "You can't hope to possibly take me on!"

Keeping his mouth shut on a retort that would have given his plan away, Riku leapt back, then to the side as Sephiroth sprang after him, stabbing Masamune into the ground where he'd been standing seconds before. Darting around behind Sephiroth, Riku made double-handed jab for the general's back with both swords.

Unfortunately, Sephiroth was not there to receive the stab in the back and Riku threw himself forward into a roll just as Masamune cut the air where Riku's head had been. As it was, the blade caught the ends of his hair and sliced them off. Springing forward again as he got his feet under him, Riku kicked himself into high-gear, running as fast as he could - so fast the air roared in his ears and everything but his destination blurred out of focus in a haze of gray. Hitting the rock wall, Riku leapt, running up the side, then kicked off it, flipping over to make sure Sephiroth was where Riku wanted him. Throwing Road to Dawn at the ex-general, Riku used his right hand to call forth his powers of Twilight.

Easily knocking Road to Dawn aside, Sephiroth wasn't expecting another attack so soon and took a blast of Twilight energy right in the face as he looked back up at Riku.

Finishing his flip, Riku landed on his feet, bending his knees to take the impact - then had to dive to the side as Sephiroth came leaping after him. Again, Masamune barely missed slicing the younger warrior.

On his feet again before Sephiroth could recover and take another shot, Riku had called Road to Dawn back to his right hand and placing the two blades together, he ground his teeth, willing the two blades to become one - with a crackle of Twilight energy, the blade portion of Road becoming double shafted and sharp, the angel and devil wings that had encircled the hilt became steel, the Key portion had morphed to black spikes edged with gold.

However, Riku didn't have enough time to admire his new Keyblade, for Sephiroth was already after him. Bringing Wrath of Twilight around, Riku braced it with both hands, blocking Sephiroth's attack more successfully this time, he succeeded in shoving the ex-general back a step. As Sephiroth began to regain the footing he'd lost, Riku suddenly ducked down, disengaging with Masamune in favor of launching a kick up at Sephiroth's stomach.

Connecting hard with the leather and metal armoring around Sephiroth's waist, Riku shoved the Prince of Darkness back several steps, then sprang backwards as Sephiroth recovered and rushed towards him. The flurry of slashes Sephiroth unleashed upon Riku was astounding - how the man could possibly move such a long and heavy blade so quickly was difficult to comprehend, and for every one Riku managed to block, he missed two. Beaten back, step by step Riku finally missed a critical shot and was slashed hard enough to send him flying back. Hitting the ground hard, he slid face-first through the dirt. Momentarily disorientated, Riku lay where he was for a moment more after he came to a stop.

"Pitiful," Sephiroth stated, and Riku could smell the bastard coming closer past the scent of dust in his nose.

Knowing his doom was coming, Riku struggled to get to his hands and knees at the least, but he could barely see for the blood dripping down his face from a slash across his forehead. Lifting a boot, Sephiroth put it on Riku's shoulder, kicking him over onto his side. "Beg for your life, worm," Sephiroth ordered.

"Eat shit!" Riku shouted back and spat blood.

"So be it." Lifting Masamune, Sephiroth sneered down at Riku - Masamune swept down - then clanged against metal.

Blinking, Riku found himself surrounded by dusty red.

* * *

Their voices were raised – loudly arguing, but she'd not heard a word they'd said. 

Sometime during her distraction, Kaiyou had turned her back on them. Now Hayner and Seifer were screaming curses at each other. Of course, Seifer knew more dirty words than Hayner, but that didn't stop Hayner from keeping even with sheer malice.

Olette was crying, Pence standing behind her, holding her shoulders. Neither could do anything.

And that was all she had time to notice before Riku interrupted her again.

Whatever was happening with him, she didn't know, but his light – the light she'd Reflected for him – rebounded back through her as he made use of it. Eyes widening as the sense of _Him_ filled her Kaiyou's hands dropped from her chest where her necklace would have been as _His_ light exploded around her, flaring up in a pillar, pulling at her clothes and hair.

Fighting it briefly, she tried to grasp the wild power raging around her, but it only tore free of her hands.

_'Kaiyou...'_

The warmth of loving earth caressed her.

Tears gathered in her eyes as she let go of the power, let it rage around her, let it tear through her like a landslide.

She stood there – she didn't know how long – breathing his essence until finally, it slackened and dissipated, the earth around her settling into a warm cocoon.

Unable to stand, Kaiyou sank to her knees, trembling.

_'Is this... my power? Is this what I can do for those I care about? ...is this what it feels like?'_

She stared at the ground, slowly beginning to recognize the sound of Hayner's voice.

"-Did you do?" he was demanding.

"Does it matter? The vines are gone!"

"Aros," a softer voice said near her ear.

Lifting her head slowly, she looked up into Vivi's large yellow eyes. "You opened the way," he said, "Let's go." He held out his large gloved hand and after a moment of staring at it, Kaiyou took it, pulling herself together.

Stumbling after them into the wrecked train station, she peered into the debris, looking for any sign of Kairi, Koko, or Demyx.

_'I hope they're alright!'

* * *

_

_AN: Sorry very much for the long wait. I tried really hard on this chapter, but I'm not very happy with it. I was totally distracted while writing it and feel I could have done better. Lesigh. I need it out of the way, though and it's as finished as I'm going to get it, I think. So..._

_Next Chapter: Such a tempting fruit, this Oblivion that he offers, but can Eve give the Serpent an honest answer and be true to herself? Desperate endeavors in Twilight Town and Meeting an Old Friend. Can the human inside forgive his beloved, or will he be forever trapped in torment? The Princes aren't the only ones our heroes have to worry about!_


	70. Apple of Discord

_Chapter 70_

_(Apple of Discord)_

"Kairi?" Olette called.

"Kairi!" Hayner shouted louder, cupping his hand at his mouth as they waded further into the ruined train station.

Kaiyou, ignoring the others, went straight forward, heading for what remained of the ship she'd ridden in. Eyes watering, but trying to stay calm, she stepped over blocks of melted gummi, heading towards a large hole in the side of the ship where the wing had once been. The material was still warm to the touch, Kaiyou found, and inside was wrecked.

Having seen her share of car crashes, she could guess that there were probably no survivors...

Gritting her teeth, she stepped in carefully, making her way towards the bridge, fearing what she would see. The others followed, though she wanted to tell them to stay back... her voice was trapped in her throat. She could hardly breathe.

Coming to the bridge door, she placed her hand on the twisted portal. There was no getting it to slide to the side again. Stepping back, she lifted a foot, kicking as hard as she could.

The door rattled, but stubbornly stayed put. Lifting her foot again, she kicked harder. Still, nothing.

Lifting her foot again, she was about to try once more when Seifer growled and shoved her aside. "Let a _man_ handle this," he stated and squared his shoulders before barreling into the door with all his weight.

The door crashed inwards and Seifer staggered in, nearly tripping over it.

"No one here," he said as Kaiyou followed him in and the others filed in after.

Kaiyou shook her head, "But... how..." she whispered, trying to think of some way they could have gotten out.

The front window was blown in – glass everywhere. There was a piece of the train station's roof impaling the pilot's chair where Kaiyou had been seated, and the co-pilot's seat was ripped from its braces and leaning against the back wall. The teleport pad was cracked and charred.

Near it, on the floor was a glitter of color. Stepping over, Kaiyou crouched, picking up one of the barrettes she'd given to Kosuiko. Folding her fingers around it, she stood, putting it into her sidepack.

_'They're not here... So... maybe they're still alive...'_ Licking her lips, she stared at the wall for a long moment before finally realizing, "Demyx – he had to have saved them!" Clinging to that hope desperately, Kaiyou turned to the others.

Only to find Seifer standing glaring at her, arms folded on his chest. "Now what?" he demanded, "This thing isn't going anywhere."

"The tracks are busted too, Y'know," Rai put in as he stared out the window at what was left outside. "Trains ain't goin' anywhere."

Her elation at not finding more bodies dried up and died in the heat of Seifer's anger and Kaiyou shrank away from his scowl. She stepped back as he strode towards her, fury in his expression. Tripping over the edge of the teleport pad, she fell to her rear, cutting her palms on the glass there as she tried to catch herself.

Reaching out, he grasped the front of her shirt, hauling her up again, lifting his other fist. "Now I'm gonna pound you," he stated, "Leading us on like that!"

"Stop it!" Olette shouted and boldly threw herself at him, grabbing his raised arm.

Pausing, he turned to look down at her. His expression didn't soften any, but his arm did lower, and after a moment, he shoved Kaiyou away. "You're not worth the effort anyway," he said, his cold words cutting into Kaiyou as she slowly got back to her feet, standing back against the wall, smearing blood on it with her bleeding hands.

Where was the warmth Riku sent her now?

She couldn't find it.

_'Just when I need it... when I need someone... anyone. I've failed. We can't get out of here. We're going to die.'_

As the others turned and started talking to each other, leaving her out of the discussion, Kaiyou leaned against the wall, head down. _'I...tried... don't they see that I tried? Or does it not matter?'_

Lifting her eyes briefly, she found Vivi staring at her.

_'The message... I never told him. Not like it matters now.'_

Sliding down slowly, she hid behind her knees, staring blankly at her bleeding hands for a moment before beginning to try to pick the bits of glass out of them.

"What _can_ we do now?" Hayner griped.

"Sit here and wait to die," Seifer suggested.

"Please stop talking like that," Olette pleaded.

"Worthless," Fuu stated blandly, though it was unclear what or who she was talking about. Kaiyou supposed she probably meant everyone in the room, but most of all, the one who'd dragged them all the way up to the train station for no good reason.

"Perhaps..." a new voice stated, light and breathy, as if the very act of speaking taxed him.

Silence fell and even Kaiyou felt compelled to lift her head as a stranger stepped into the room. He had to bow his head as he entered, the large blue antlers of his hair preventing him from simply walking in. His delicate hand lifted his blue robe out of the way as he stepped lightly over the busted door, but as he straightened, the handsome man cast a smile around the room, his blue eyes gleaming in gentle kindness.

"Perhaps," he said again, "I could be of assistance?" he offered.

Kaiyou stared at the man's pretty features, his crystal blue eyes, and gently curving lips.

And shivered in fear.

* * *

Sephiroth's eyes widened slightly as he stared down at Vincent, then his gaze narrowed, lips pulling back into a sneer. But, before the ex-general could do anything, he staggered as a stout kick to the back of his knee broke his stance and he was forced to shift planes briefly and reappear a short distance away.

Unfortunately for Sephiroth, Cloud had been expecting him to do that and met him, swinging his hefty sword around to slash at his old enemy.

Bringing Masamune up, Sephiroth blocked Cloud's attack, then shifted planes again, moving to get behind the blonde. Cloud was ready for that, though and already turned to face him. Tifa, moving swift as lightning shot forward, past Cloud to swing her arm in a wide punch that got past Sephiroth's guard.

Hatred burned in Cloud's eyes as he stood facing Sephiroth once more. "Looks like this is never going to end."

"I told you before..." the silver-haired warrior snarled as he leapt forward to attack Cloud, "I will not become just a memory!"

* * *

Opening his eyes once more, Riku breathed, staring up at the pale features of Vincent, framed by black and crimson.

His father's flesh hand slid under Riku's shoulder, and a moment later, Vincent sprang away from the fight, taking his son with him.

As they landed some distance away on a ledge created by the collapsing of the tunnel, Riku's legs couldn't hold his weight and he sank down in Vincent's grip. "Riku," the man said gently, brushing his son's silver hair back from his face. Lifting his eyes in return, Riku stared up at Vincent, "Riku," the man's expression softened, "Stay here. We'll finish this fight."

"Dad...?" Riku asked softly, confused.

Looking towards the battle briefly, Vincent turned back to Riku and stated, "Stay here." But he remained a moment longer, as if he had something more he wanted to say but couldn't.

Carefully releasing Riku, Vincent stood and leapt down from the ledge he'd set Riku on, drawing his gun as he went. Crawling to the edge and looking down, Riku could do little but as he was told.

_'Stay here... like I can do anything else?'_

Before he could do much more than blink, Riku found that he was no longer alone on the ledge. Slowly looking back over his shoulder, Riku blinked up at Loz and Yazoo.

"You're hurt," Yazoo observed and knelt beside Riku. "Big brother hurt you..." Loz had started crying.

"Stop that," Riku sighed tiredly.

"But..." Yazoo protested.

Riku shook his head, irritated, but too tired, too in pain, to do more than that. He knew he would have to deal with what Sephiroth just did to him – awoke in him... but... _'This must be how Wakka and Tidus feel... I'm going to have to deal with this... somehow. Later.'_

"Should we..." Yazoo said slowly, as he looked down at the battle below, "Go help them?"

Looking towards Yazoo, Riku reached over and pulled him in for a hug, then released him, "Yeah, that'd be useful," he replied sarcastically.

Loz took hold of Riku in a tight hug, sniffling. "Don't go away again, big brother!" he cried and Riku laughed bitterly.

"Sure. Whatever. Now let me go," Riku slapped Loz's back a few times, and finally, the big man let him go. Standing, the pair looked down at Riku for a moment then turned, leaping off the ledge.

Having used the last of his energy, Riku lowered himself down to the ground. "I'll...just rest ...for a little..." he breathed softly, then closed his eyes.

* * *

Rushing Sephiroth from behind, Tifa slid down low as Masamune slashed over her head. Adjusting her weight, she got her hands under her, sending both her legs up in a double-kick to the face. Staggering back a step, Sephiroth was quick to retaliate, swinging his sword back around in an arc as Tifa flipped away, barely missing getting sliced across the midsection as she did.

Vincent's shots echoed off the walls of the canyon as he ran in a wide arc around the silver-haired warrior, expression tight and cold. Lifting his wing, Sephiroth blocked the shots with it, then spun, throwing a hand out – and as he did, a wave of darkness burst across the ground towards the man in red.

Stepping into the wave's path, Cloud held his sword behind him, eyes narrowed, focusing his power into the blade, and with a mighty sweep, he sent his own wave of energy towards Sephiroth. When the two energies met, the both of them exploded upwards in a blast that heaved rocks upwards in a rain, and in the cover, Cloud moved again, suddenly coming at Sephiroth from the right.

Bringing Masamune around, Sephiroth blocked the attack, both hands gripping the hilt, which was held up high near his face. Pressing harder, Cloud leaned in. Their eyes met – a message of fury and hatred passing between them as an unspoken understanding.

Adjusting his balance, Sephiroth shoved Cloud's sword away, then followed with a wide sweep of his sword that the blonde blocked, then leapt over, coming in behind the swing to attack again in a diagonal sweep downwards.

Stepping back and to the side, Sephiroth blocked Cloud again and the pair split off as Vincent's shots came in again. Focusing his will, Sephiroth turned to Cloud first, throwing the blonde backwards across the ground with a sudden blast. Turning, the ex-general slapped aside Vincent's bullets with a sweep of his sword and willpower. Throwing out his right hand, Sephiroth called a ball of darkness, throwing it at Vincent, who had to dive into a roll to avoid getting hit.

Tifa was back under Sephiroth's guard and delivering a kick to his arm that sent his sword flying. She followed with a punch but Sephiroth brought his arms up to block.

Without a word, he shifted his stance, balling his fist to return her punch, landing it directly in her sternum. With a grunt, Tifa flew backwards and rolled away some distance before curling into a ball.

"Tifa!" Cloud shouted, and with renewed fire, gathered his energy into his blade once again, sending it blasting towards Sephiroth. The energy broke over Sephiroth as he lifted his arms up to block his face. Swift to take advantage of Sephiroth's distraction, Cloud closed in swinging his sword up and over his shoulder as he leapt in a death-from-above stab.

Side-stepping, Sepiroth narrowly avoided being struck and held out his left hand, calling Masamune back to it, swinging at Cloud's unprotected back. The blonde rolled away, taking his sword with him as he went and was back on his feet, blocking Sephiroth's follow-up strike as the ex-general stepped in. Knocking Masamune's tip offline from its stab, Cloud rushed in, swinging his sword for a diagonal attack from below. This time, Sephiroth leapt back – only to come back in seconds later with another attack.

Tifa slowly sat up, clutching her chest, and wide-eyed, watched the man she loved exchange several more blocks and attacks with Sephiroth before a haze of shadow began to form around the pair, broken by light reflecting off their swords.

Squinting, she lifted her other hand to shade her eyes, but no – it wasn't her imagination.

As Sephiroth suddenly leapt upwards – his wing pumping, Cloud sprang after him, and in a sudden flash of light shot with shadow... they were gone.

* * *

Something nudged him, and reluctantly, Riku came to consciousness. "Pitiful," someone standing over him muttered and turned away. "I could kill him... but that wouldn't be any fun."

The young man turned away and Riku cracked his eyes open slowly, his gaze focusing first on the dirt and small pebbles in front of his nose. Then, his gaze focused on a pair of black boots and the hem of a white coat that was gently moving in the breeze.

"So," a sarcastic voice grudgingly stated, "Old man's pretty good after all." A portal of darkness opened next to Riku and the boots turned away, stepping into the portal, disappearing.

* * *

"Well," Tifa sighed, dropping her hand as she stared after where Cloud and Sephiroth had used to be. "They've gone off again. When is he going to stop doing that?" Lowering her gaze, she spotted Loz and Yazoo standing a short distance away, looking nervously about.

Getting to her feet, she fell into a stance, ready to take them on. But neither of the pair attacked. They just stared at her, apparently confused as to what they should have been doing.

Stalking over to stand beside her briefly, Vincent stared at the clones, "Are you going to start something?" he asked.

Yazoo shook his head, eyes wide.

Nodding slightly, Vincent turned away, heading to the ledge he'd left Riku on.

The boy was still there, but the ground beneath him was soaked in a puddle of blood. Dropping to a knee, Vincent pulled his glove off his flesh-hand with his teeth, then reached over, slipping his fingers beneath the collar of Riku's shirt. Holding his breath, he searched for a pulse. Riku's flesh felt cold.

-There! A pulse!

Letting his breath out in relief, Vincent shoved his glove into his pocket and pulled out a potion instead. It was the only one he had, but he broke it over Riku anyway, hoping that it would help enough. Next, he pulled Riku up carefully, slipping his claw beneath Riku's knees and lifted. Getting to his feet, he leapt down to the ground below, then walked the short distance to where Tifa was still standing, facing Loz and Yazoo with a deep frown.

Looking over to her, Vincent stated, "Riku is hurt badly,"

"But – Cloud..."

Vincent shook his head, not bothering to reply verbally to Tifa's comment. After all, Cloud and Sephiroth were gone and there wasn't much Vincent or Tifa could do about it. Tifa turned to look at him, dropping her hands to her sides, "Cloud can take care of himself," Vincent added finally.

Loz and Yazoo were still standing nearby, although Loz was now wringing his hands in worry, tears in his eyes while Yazoo tried desperately to keep calm. At least one of the pair was capable of a level of maturity. Vincent cast them a dark look.

Yes, he remembered them. And No. He didn't like them.

Cradling Riku's head against his shoulder, Vincent turned. "I've given him what potions I had," he stated, "but Aerith should look at him."

Tifa nodded, "She's at the tower..." turning, she looked towards the distant structure. Although, it wasn't nearly so far that they couldn't make it. She hoped, anyway.

Vincent grunted in agreement and started off – then stopped as he heard shuffling behind him.

Turning his head, he looked over his shoulder at Loz and Yazoo as they stopped, eyes wide as they stared at him.

"And where are you going?" the ex-Turk asked darkly.

Loz and Yazoo looked down, aside, up, diagonal – anywhere but at Vincent. The pair remained silent.

Tifa also turned to look at them, lips pulling downwards slightly as she gazed at them. "I get it..." she said slowly, folding her arms beneath her breasts. "With Sephiroth gone, you don't know who to follow... so you've latched onto Riku?"

"...He's...our brother," Loz said softly, the tears in his eyes seeping over.

Unimpressed, Tifa remained as she was. "I don't trust you," she stated.

Yazoo decided to step forward this time and said, "We don't care!" Shuffling to a stop again, he lowered his eyes and said more quietly, "We... we have no other purpose..." Lifting his eyes again, Yazoo slowly sank to his knees, placing his hands on the ground as he looked up at Tifa and Vincent. "Please – don't take him from us?" he begged.

Turning, Tifa exchanged looks with Vincent – who, after a moment, looked away and started off again.

Tifa, figuring that to be Vincent's answer, turned and started walking after him.

Loz, burst out sobbing as Yazoo slowly got to his feet, head hanging.

"What are you wasting time crying for?" Vincent stated flatly without looking back. "We have to get moving."

Startled, Tifa looked over at Vincent – only to find that he was still stoic as ever, wearing a blank expression, gaze pointed towards his destination as he walked. Yazoo and Loz both lifted their heads, and like puppies, scurried after Vincent.

"You're..." Tifa whispered.

"Giving them a second chance," the ex-Turk sighed as he shifted Riku in his arms, pressing his cheek against Riku's bloody hair.

* * *

_'Easy,'_ Squall thought, _'Too easy,'_ as he carefully crept in to Rufus's tower, gunblade held in both hands and ready, finger only a hair from pulling the trigger and setting his blade to vibrating.

Behind him, he knew Aerith, Cid, and Yuffie were creeping along silently. He didn't have to look to know they were there... He trusted them enough to leave them to do as they'd decided to do. So, in short, he hoped they were there.

So far, everything had been quiet. Since killing Elena, no other Heartless had bothered them. There were no Nobodies in the hall, nothing moving except them... And that bothered Squall. Thankfully, they were almost to the office, which they'd decided would be their goal, since if they had the office, they could do something about manually manipulating the defense grid to help the people outside who were being put to work as slaves.

But the silence unnerved him... Yet at the same time, the silence meant that they were going to be able to make a surprise entrance.

He hoped, anyway.

Coming to a stop at a corner, Squall put his back to the wall and peered around carefully, finding the door to the office closed, but unguarded.

Looking back over the other shoulder, he found Aerith in the lead with Cid behind her and Yuffie at the back. Silently gesturing, he pointed at himself, then around the corner, then held up a hand towards them.

Aerith nodded and he assumed she understood what he meant. Yuffie looked irritated but Cid nodded as well.

Rolling around the corner, Squall made a run straight for the door and leapt, hitting it with one foot.

The door slammed inwards, broken off its hinges and even as it banged against the wall, Squall went into a roll, diving to the side as a gunshot went off, pellets from a shotgun flying barely inches above his head as he went down. Ahead of him, standing behind the desk, was Rufus, sawed off shotgun held up and ready, a charismatic grin spread across his lips.

Getting his feet under him, Squall remained crouched, blade up, but turned to the flat as a shield as Rufus turned, taking aim again with his gun. Swinging the gunblade as the pellets from Rufus's shotgun hit it, Squall deflected them and in the same movement, sprang forward. Bringing his blade up and around for a downward slash at the Prince of Darkness, he pulled the trigger on his gunblade. Dodging back quickly, Rufus avoided getting sliced in half – the desk wasn't as lucky.

"Oh good of you to come," Rufus said lightly, "I've been wanting to kill someone all day."

Lifting his other hand, a ball of darkness forming in it, Rufus shot Squall point-blank, hitting the warrior in the chest and sending him flying across the room.

Twisting in midair, Squall got his feet towards the wall and upon landing against it, sprang forward once again, ignoring the pain in his chest. Bringing his gunblade around again for another diagonal slash, Squall again missed Rufus as the Prince spun away, white coat flaring as he dived under the blade. That was when the desk exploded in fire and Yuffie's shuriken whizzed through the air, flying past Squall in a perfectly angled shot that missed him but hit Rufus in a glancing blow.

Staggering, Rufus turned a glower on her, lifting a finger to point at the ninja as she caught her weapon once again, "You'll die first," he told her. With that, he turned, dashing off though the door into the computer room.

Landing in a kneel, Squall frowned, then took off after Rufus, bringing his gunblade up again as a shield, blocking another blast from the shotgun Rufus had aimed as he ran. Rattling like a rain of bells against his blade, the pellets scattered to the sides as Squall twirled the blade to the side and into a position he could strike from.

Stopping briefly to take another shot at Squall, Rufus wasn't fast enough on the trigger and was instead forced to block Squall's slash with the gun, using both hands to brace it a moment before he slid out from beneath the heavy blade just in time to get hit again by Yuffie's weapon.

Turning, Rufus leapt atop the computer console, then over it, back flipping gracefully to the floor of the generator room. Without hesitating, Yuffie leapt over the edge as well, slinging her shuriken.

Dodging back a step, Rufus avoided getting struck by the whirling blades and lifted his shotgun, catching Yuffie squarely as she landed, sending her flying backwards.

Cid leapt off the balcony above without hesitation, bringing his spear point down. Again, Rufus dodged, letting Cid's attack break the floor. Not waiting for Rufus to retaliate, Cid sprang off again, dashing away. After briefly making a visual check on Yuffie, Squall leapt atop the console and sprang down after the others, leaving Aerith to take the stairs. Landing a short distance away, he ran in, sword low for an upward sweep at Rufus's back while he was busy taking aim at Cid.

Rufus, as if possessing a sixth sense, spun around to face him, bringing his shotgun up to block and shoved Squall's blade aside. As Squall recovered, Rufus spun aside to throw a ball of blackness at Cid as the Dragoon came in to stab, but his aim was knocked aside when Yuffie's weapon flew in, knocking Rufus's arm aside, slicing his coat and drawing blood. Pulling his arm in, the Prince turned a glare at the ninja as she leapt to catch her weapon.

Simultaneously, Squall stepped back in with Cid, their combined attack sending Rufus staggering a step.

Swinging around, Rufus slapped their blades aside. "Now you're really starting to piss me off," he stated and as he leapt back several feet from them, he took aim with his gun – only to have it knocked from his hand by Yuffie's shuriken.

Figuring Rufus to be open, Squall sprang forward, bringing his gunblade around to slash at Rufus's head. Ducking beneath the blade, Rufus slammed a foot into Squall's knee, knocking him off balance, then followed the attack with another boot directly to the face.

"Squall!" Yuffie shrieked.

Falling back, Squall rolled to his feet again, blood dripping down from his split lip, holding his sword at the ready once again. Unfortunately, there was no attacking Rufus now, for a wall of shadow had risen up around him, flickering with blue-spark lightning. Within the barrier, Rufus raised his hands, palm up, and as he did, shadows spread across the floor, arcing with lightning.

"Behold!" Rufus shouted, "I am the Mako Prince!" Then, he began to laugh, throwing back his head as the sparks melted the floor and raced up the walls, making the generators on the walls begin to spark all the more.

Wiping his mouth with the back of a hand, Squall watched as Heartless formed from the sparks. Dog-like creatures with whip-tails on the backs of their heads, and Cid groaned, "Shoulda known this wasn't going to be easy," he said to Squall.

"Whatever," the gunblade master muttered. "Just kill them. And him. Whatever it takes."

Nodding, Cid leapt upwards, springing over Rufus's barrier to make a direct hit on the Prince. Squall didn't have the time to watch Cid, though, and instead turned to slice one of the dog-Heartless in half, following that by severing the head of the next one to jump at him. A third dog leapt at him from behind and reaching back, Squall grabbed its whip-tail, yanking it over his shoulder. As it went, it ripped his coat and scratched the side of his face, drawing blood.

Finally, Aerith arrived, throwing a healing spell at him as he went after the Heartless he'd just thrown, stabbing it firmly with a downward jab. Yuffie's weapon went whirling by, blades singing through the air as it slammed into a Heartless near him and destroyed it.

"Yuffie!" Squall snapped, "Mind yourself!" Her crush was really starting to become a liability. Taking a moment to get bearings on where everyone was, Squall spotted Aerith near the wall, slapping the Heartless aside. Yuffie was only a short distance away from her, kicking another Heartless in the head. Aerith's fire went off next to Yuffie, charring one of the Heartless as it was about to attack the ninja girl.

As for Cid – he came flying out of Rufus's shadow wall and landed amidst a pack of Heartless that leapt upon him immediately. Thrashing beneath them briefly, Cid got to his feet again and heaved, sending the creatures flying, then laid about him with his spear, beating them back.

Figuring that Cid was fine, Squall turned back to Rufus, just as the Prince lifted his hands over his head again, his wall of shadow rising higher until it suddenly collapsed in upon itself. In an abrupt blast, it burst outwards, knocking the heroes off their feet and sending them sliding across the floor quite some distance.

Yuffie was the first on her feet and throwing her shuriken, she nailed Rufus solidly in the back.

Turning, he pointed at her again, "As I said – you're the first!" he shouted and flinging his hand into the air, a pillar of black shadow burst up from the floor beneath her.

Her scream echoed in the room – high pitched and piercing.

"Yuffie!" he screamed and didn't even realize what he'd said until the memories came back. Like a cascade – an avalanche, dropping on him.

Rinoa's smile – replaced by Yuffie's grin. Bouncing exuberance, full of life – snuffed out in a second by darkness.

Closing his eyes tightly against the memories the sound brought back, Squall ground his teeth as he got to his feet. _'Not – again! Never again! NEVER!'_

Breaking into a run, he hit the pack of Heartless that remained between him and his goal. Swinging his blade wildly, he knocked Heartless from his path in order to reach Rufus and stop him in time.

Still, she was screaming. How could such a small body hold that much breath?

_'I'm coming! Just hold on Yuffie!'_

"You leave her _ALONE!_"

The spray of blood hung in the air a moment then fell to the floor like a mini shower of ruby rain.

Rufus gasped. His hand lowered slowly as he looked down at the blade protruding from his chest, eyes wide in shock.

Yanking his blade free, Squall shouted inarticulately, swinging his blade down again, he hacked at Rufus's body, blood splattering up in a sheet as he pulled his blade free. Still screaming, Squall lifted his gunblade high and brought it down again before Cid finally caught him and held him back.

"Leon! C'mon! He's dead already!" Cid was shouting and it took a moment for Squall to realize what the man had said.

Dropping his blade, he staggered back, falling to his knees, panting as he stared at the body.

The blood was red.

_'I thought it'd be black.'_

"Yuffie..." Squall breathed and slowly climbed to his feet again, looking for her.

There – Aerith kneeling beside her – lay Yuffie. Staggering over to her, Squall dropped to a knee, reaching out to touch her hair, brushing it gently back from her face. She didn't appear to be hurt... all except for the small trail of blood that seeped from the corner of her lips. "Squall... I..." Aerith whispered.

Lifting his head, their eyes met, hers shimmering with tears.

Dropping her eyes, Aerith looked away, and with little to be said between them, Squall returned his own gaze to Yuffie.

"I'm...sorry..." she whispered.

* * *

"Yuffie..." Tifa whispered, closing her eyes as she leaned against the wall outside of the room Yuffie lay in. It was so hard to fight back the tears that stung her eyes... and she wasn't even sure why she was bothering to. After the battle, they'd left Rufus's body where it was, Squall having taken Yuffie upstairs and to another room in the tower – a break room of some sort.

Aerith, being unable to do anything had gone to help Riku – and probably to cry, even though she was usually the one telling the others not to. Cid was "patrolling" with Vincent. More likely they were watching Loz and Yazoo like hawks and trying to pretend they weren't shocked by the casualties of this war.

_'Then again... they're hardened warriors. Or well, Vincent is.'_ Tifa shook her head and lifted a hand to wipe beneath her eye. Of Roxas and his group, there'd been no sign. _'I hope they're okay...'_

As for Squall...

Squall was inside still, seated on the edge of the cot Yuffie had been placed in, staring blankly at the floor, elbows on his knees.

_'And here, I thought he had no emotions...'_ Tifa couldn't help but think.

He'd always been a little cold, especially towards Yuffie, even when she was being most insistent about her crush, so it had really been a surprise to Tifa...

"Hey..."

Starting, Tifa turned quickly to face whoever was behind her – only to find Roxas.

"Tifa – what's wrong?" Roxas asked, spotting her tears and hurriedly, she wiped them away.

"When did you get here?" she asked instead.

"Just a few minutes ago. Vincent and Cid said something happened and we need a meeting," Roxas replied, "What happened? Something wrong?" he repeated.

"Y..." Tifa stammered, unable to quite make herself say it without choking up again. "Yuffie..."

Startled, Roxas simply stood there, staring at her. Apparently, he was so unused to having a heart that he really didn't know what to do. Which was fine with Tifa. Hurriedly, she wiped her face with her hands and sniffled. "We'll go see if Aerith has fixed Riku yet," she said, "and then see if...Leon's ready..."

"Huh?" Roxas asked as she brushed by him, heading back the way he'd come. "What's wrong with Riku? And Leon?" he asked, really starting to get confused.

"You go get the others," Tifa ordered him instead of answering.

Growing irritated, Roxas sighed, heading off towards the balcony where everyone else was still waiting.

* * *

He was alive.

That much he knew.

Yet he still felt hot, his head aching, his stomach aching, his heart...

A cool hand touched his forehead, "You'll be fine," she said, her voice gentle – soothing. He would have loved to have gone to sleep again, but ... but...

"Mom?" he asked softly.

"That's the second time you've called me that," she sighed.

Then, finally, he placed the voice.

Aerith.

Opening his eyes, Riku stared up at her, finding himself in a room in the tower, lying on a cot. Alone, with her.

She smiled sadly down at him. "I've closed your wounds," she said, "but you used a lot of energy. You'll need rest..."

Shivering, Riku stared at her. He wanted to scream – to rave or rant or shout or strangle her. But instead, his words came out pitifully weak and small.

"You – you knew all along..."

Her luminescent green eyes closed and Aerith turned her face away. "I did," she admitted.

"Why didn't you _say_ anything?" Again. He'd wanted to confront her, but it was the ache in his heart that betrayed him – the jumbled up mess in his head that tripped him. His words nearly came out a whine.

_'Who am I?'_

"...because I didn't want to mess up your new life with memories of the past," Aerith replied sadly, "You seemed to be doing so well that... I didn't think you really wanted or needed to know what had happened before."

"who...am I?"

Now, Aerith turned to look at him again. "You're exactly who you want to be, Riku. No one can tell you what to be or who to be. Not even Sephiroth."

"Shut up," he told her, startling her enough to make her withdraw her hand from his forehead.

"Riku..."

Closing his eyes, he turned his face away from her. "I'm a murderer," he stated. "That's what I am. I'm Kadaj the murderer. That's who I am." Pressing his lips together for a moment, he heard her take a breath to speak, but spoke again before she could prevent him, "And I'm Riku the World Destroyer." Opening his eyes again, he turned his darkest scowl on her. "Stupid woman." The strength of his anger let him push past his fatigue, and he sat up, "Don't you know? Those who don't know the past are doomed to repeat it."

With that, he swung his feet off the cot and stood – then was forced to pause as he swayed slightly. Determined to make an exit, to get away from her, Riku started forward, stalking towards the door – only to nearly get run over by Tifa.

He only saved himself from falling by grabbing her shoulders to steady himself. She stared up at him in shock for a moment, then breathed in relief when he dropped his hands. "We're having a meeting," Tifa told them, then looked up at Riku again. "You alright?"

"Fine," he snapped. Irritated, in pain, confused, and hurt. "Where's the meeting?"

"I'll go ask Leon," Tifa said and started to turn.

"I'll come," Riku stated and followed her – whether she wanted his company or not. He was far too angry. But anger kept away the memories, and those were things he truly didn't want to face at the moment.

Aerith remained where she was, staring at the cot Riku had been occupying, her hand touching the pillow, her fingers picking one of his silver hairs off it to look at closer. Softly, she sighed, gaze turning towards the floor as she placed her hands in her lap, "I wish... Sephiroth hadn't done that. Riku had the chance to be happy. Now..."

"Now what?" Vincent asked, voice held in tight control so as to not betray his emotions. Lifting her head, Aerith found the ex-Turk standing in the doorway, his arms at his sides, though she did spot his flesh hand curling into a fist and relaxing, curling and relaxing. Was this a habit he'd taken up during his repeated-time on Destiny Islands?

"I don't know if he'll ever recover." Aerith had to admit, at least to Vincent, "Sephiroth did a great deal of damage," Aerith admitted. "Riku's spirit is shattered." Standing, she stepped lightly across the room to stand in front of him, looking up at his face and directly into his red eyes. "I didn't send him to you as penance," she told him firmly, "I sent him to you as a second chance – the chance to do it right this time."

Unable to meet her gaze, Vincent looked away and stepped aside. "Looks like I messed up again."

With a flick of his cape, Vincent turned away, stalking down the hall towards where the others were already gathering – outside of the room Leon was in. With little other choice, Aerith sighed softly and followed as well.

At the door, Tifa was blocking the way, standing with her hands on her hips. The others were a silent crowd, knowing something terrible had happened, but Cid, Vincent, nor Tifa had said. It was a conspiracy of silence and none of them seemed to much like it.

"Is he...alright?" Aerith asked.

"I...don't know," she admitted, "I didn't...couldn't..."

Nodding slightly, Aerith slipped past Tifa and into the room behind her.

Leon was just as she'd left him before Riku had shown up. She sighed, "Everyone else has shown up," she informed him.

"I heard," he said, lifting his hands to scrub his face.

He looked worn out.

Pushing himself to his feet, Leon nodded, "Let them in."

Turning, Aerith stepped back over to the door, opening it again, then stepping aside.

For a moment, no one came in, then Tifa finally stepped in, and the others followed, their eyes going immediately to the cot. Squall stared straight ahead, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"She..." Rikku was the first to say, "She's dead..."

Closing her eyes, Yuna shook her head, stepping forward, "May I?" she asked Squall. Silently, he shrugged and stepped away from the cot, pretending to not care. Riku knew that mask all too well. He'd worn it himself fairly often.

Kneeling beside the cot, Yuna looked closely at the body, then back at the others, "Her soul," she said hesitantly, her eyes meeting Aerith's. "Her soul should still be here. But it's not."

Aerith nodded, "I think... Rufus took it."

"Then – then there's a chance...?" Rikku asked, flittering back and forth in the room. "There's a chance she can be saved still?"

"Only if we can find where it was taken," Vincent surmised darkly from the corner he'd taken residence in. Riku flicked his gaze towards the man briefly, then looked away as he found Vincent staring boldly at him from beneath his wild hair.

Thankfully, Khimari stepped between them, blocking Riku's view and the silver-haired boy turned back to look at Squall, waiting for him to get on with things. _'We don't have forever.'_

Yuna stood and returned to Khimari and Paine's side, Rikku remained fluttering in the air near her ex-Summoner's head. Of the others, Tifa had moved to stand on Vincent's other side, Aerith beside her, and Cid was leaning on the wall next to her, smoking. Roxas had taken a place beside Riku, hands stuffed in his pockets.

Looking around, Cid asked of Roxas, "Where's that redhead?"

"Axel," Roxas replied, "Went off with his Other. I guess to settle things... one way or another." Looking at him, Riku could barely tell that Roxas was worried about his friend. Barely, but while Roxas was fairly different from Sora, Riku could still tell.

"What happened with you guys?" Tifa asked, "You were so late getting here."

"We ran into the Turks," Roxas answered, "And Gary."

Straightening, Cid asked, "Where did Gary go?"

Roxas snorted, "I beat him up and he ran."

Cid nodded with a grunt.

"What happened to you guys?" Roxas asked, glancing to Yuffie briefly, then looked at Squall.

It was Aerith that replied, though, "We met Rufus and defeated him, as well as Elena. Tseng – another Turk - is also dead."

Tifa took a breath. "We were attacked by Loz and Yazoo and Riku led them away where he was attacked by Sephiroth." She looked towards Riku, lips parted open still, offering him the chance to explain if he wished, but also willing to continue if he didn't.

Folding his arms, Riku ignored her offer.

"When we arrived," Tifa continued, "Riku was nearly beaten. Cloud disappeared with Sephiroth, Loz and Yazoo now... follow Riku." The intonation of her voice crept upwards, almost asking the last two words. Riku didn't know the answer to that, so he remained silent, ignoring the looks the others were giving him.

"What's our next move then?" Laguna asked.

Finally speaking, Squall stated, "We head back to Disney Castle and find out what has gone wrong while we were here." Briefly, he paused and looked down at Yuffie once again, then turned back towards the others, meeting their eyes for the first time since the meeting started. "We can't all go and leave this place unprotected," he pointed out.

Aerith lifted a hand, "If... you don't mind, I'll stay," she offered. "I'm really not that helpful anywhere else, after all. My power comes from this planet."

Cid nodded, "I'll stay too."

Taking a breath, Tifa finally stepped forward. "I'll stay too... though I don't want to." Looking at her for a long moment, he nodded.

_'She's probably hoping that Cloud will come back here... Always waiting.'_

"Alright," Squall stated, "that's enough to keep this world safe. We should get back to Disney Castle."

"Squall..." Laguna said softly, "You sure you're alright?"

Fury rising in him, Squall turned to his father and snapped, "I'm fine! Let's go." With that, he stalked towards the door, picking up his gunblade from beside it, heading out into the hall.

Laguna frowned, looking after Squall, "Hyne..." he muttered, then followed – fluffing Roxas's hair on the way past the blonde. "Let's get back to your sister. I'm sure she's worried!"

Roxas sighed with a nod. "Yeah," he agreed.

Without a word, Riku pushed off the wall and headed out the door, arms crossed on his chest, chin down as he walked. Aerith watched him go, sadness in her eyes.

_'Right... Head back to Disney Castle... Kaiyou...'_

Shaking his head, Riku headed for the balcony, dropping his arms to his sides once again as he walked. Behind him, he could hear the others, but he didn't want to talk to them. Nor did he care if Tifa or the others talked about him. Though he had a feeling they were likely talking about Yuffie. _'Aerith can probably preserve her body while someone – probably Squall – goes after her soul.'_

"Brother?"

Stopping, Riku lifted his eyes, finally spotting Yazoo and Loz, standing near the door outside. They looked uncertain, Loz twiddling his thumbs while Yazoo shuffled his toe against the floor. "They told us to stay out here," Yazoo explained.

"You're okay now?" Loz asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

Stepping out, Riku squinted up at the sun briefly, then turned to face them. He didn't want to face them. He didn't want to deal with this problem at all.

_'I need... to get away from them. I can't think.'_

"Loz, Yazoo," Riku stated, cutting off whatever Yazoo had been about to say. "I want you to stay here. I've got things... I've got to take care of."

Yazoo stared at him, looking crestfallen. Loz was tearing up.

"Don't cry," Riku sighed, "I need... you to stay here. Follow what Tifa says. Do what she says. I'll come back." He realized he was repeating himself, and that Roxas was standing behind Loz and Yazoo, listening. "You understand?"

"But... what about Mother?" Loz blubbered.

Squeezing his eyes shut as the memories rattled back at him – so many things. Confused, Riku shook his head, trying to sort out which Mother Loz was talking about.

Memories of his mom, Akina, flicked through his mind. _'Happy birthday Riku!'_

_'Come home, Kadaj...'_ Aerith's voice echoed.

There was a third one, though. A third one without a voice or words. Her intent, though, was so full of malice that Riku shuddered.

That one... was evil. Pure evil.

"Jenova," Riku's lips pulled back from his teeth, "Jenova is... not our mother."

Yazoo gasped. Loz squeaked. It was really quite embarrassing to be seen with the pair. Lifting his eyes, Riku snapped, "Stop that!" and gulping a hiccup, Loz held his breath. "Jenova is a monster. Forget her! There are more important things worth worrying about than some parasitic world-eater."

"But – what?" Yazoo demanded, upset. After all, Riku had just pulled down his entire world.

_'World destroyer...'_

Taking a breath to calm himself and shove aside all the memories – clear his head, Riku answered, "Think on this; where will you be when everything is gone?"

Mouth opening and closing like a beached fish, Yazoo stared at him, unable to answer.

Surprisingly, it was Loz that answered, "With... mother...?"

"Wrong," Riku stated flatly. "You'll be dead. Yeah, so what if everything's connected? So what if we all go to the same place? We're still dead. There's nothing beyond that."

Looking firmly at Yazoo, then Loz, Riku tried to ignore Roxas. "You two," he pointed at Kadaj's brothers as he repeated, "Do what Tifa says and stay here."

"But –" Yazoo objected again, "If Mother is wrong... if Mother doesn't matter, what _does_?" he demanded.

"Life," Riku stated, "Preserving it," finally, he looked at Roxas, "Friends."

"But we haven't got any!" Yazoo whispered.

"You do too," Riku sighed. He was really starting to get a headache. "My friends are yours too. But I've got to go finish saving them. That's why I need you to stay here and protect Tifa and Aerith and Cid and this world. Got it?"

Finally, Loz nodded. Apparently, Riku had gotten through. After a moment, Yazoo nodded as well, but asked, "You'll... come back... right?"

"When I've finished what I've got to do," Riku replied, then swallowed before adding, "...promise."

Roxas finally stepped forward, "I'll make sure he keeps that," the blonde stated, then turned to Riku. "The others are already on the ship."

"I'm coming," Riku muttered. Turning to Yazoo, he continued, "Go tell Tifa I told you to follow her orders."

"Yes, Brother," Yazoo agreed but didn't move, watching Riku and Roxas as they turned way, stepping over to the set teleport site that was on the balcony.

* * *

_AN: Please don't hurt me for what I did to Yuffie. I've got my reasons... Same with Twilight Town._

_And the body count is thus:_

_Tron – killed by Virus  
__Larxene – Eaten by Gary  
__Luxord – Defeated by Zack  
__Reno – disappeared with Axel  
__Axel – disappeared with Reno  
__Tseng – killed by Elena  
__Elena – killed by Tseng  
__Yuffie – killed by Rufus  
__Rufus – Killed by Squall  
__Cloud – Disappeared with Sephiroth  
__Sephiroth – disappeared with Cloud_

_Anyway, yeah. Hope the fact that this is 15 pages long (minus author's note) makes up for my lack of updating on a regular basis. And PLEASE! Don't kill me for what I did to Yuffie! I made sure she had a good exit... I just... it wasn't fair to only kill off bad guys._

_Next Chapter: The Cast Thinning has begun! Who will survive – who will I kill permanently? And was that Seifer/Olette I saw? Is anyone safe from my Evil? As for Kaiyou – she may be out of the frying pan but has fallen into the fire and is now totally lost! How will anyone find her when the trail has gone cold? _


	71. The Fallen Fruit

_Chapter 71_

_(The Fallen Fruit)_

The awful silence continued as the group of kids stared at the handsome man in a chest-revealing blue robe. His slightly longer-than-normal arms ended with longer than normal fingers, and as Kaiyou continued to look at him, she began to get the impression that he wasn't human. "I am Maester Seymour," he purred, "leader of the Guado in Spira. I came here to investigating a disturbance of life energy, only to find a world nearly dead."

Spreading his long-fingered hands, Seymour continued, "I'd feared this world completely lost until I heard your voices."

Hayner stepped forward at the same time as Seifer, but managed to get off his comment first, "You're sure we're the only ones left?"

"How did you get here?" Seifer followed with quickly.

Seymour smiled genially. "I have a ship," he answered Seifer first, then his expression shifted to one of sorrow, "And yes, there is little doubt that you are the only ones left. The rest of this world is covered in thorns. They have completely taken over this world. Those who might be still alive are undoubtedly trapped and will soon be found by the Heartless."

"How did you think to look here?" Olette asked, clasping her hands against her chest, tears in her eyes.

Looking around at the ship, Seymour admitted, "While circling overhead, we discovered this ship," he gestured with one of his long-fingered hands, "and as we came to investigate, we saw a bright flash of light."

Kaiyou's stomach clenched. _'They were looking for me, in other words...'_ Bowing her head, she put it against her knees, feeling tired and used, and tired of being used.

Shaking his head, Seifer asked, "And how are you going to get past the Heartless"

"I have ways of moving that they can't see," Seymour replied with a smile. "I'm more than willing to show you. Shall we go?"

The others looked around at each other, everyone meeting eyes and coming to a silent agreement. Hayner nodded in answer for his group. Seifer spoke up for his team, "Yeah. Let's get out of here."

No one looked at her, even as Kaiyou lifted her head to watch them. No one asked what her opinion was. But... she felt compelled to state it. Just to make sure that no one could accuse her of having not warned them when Seymour turned out to be what she was beginning to suspect. "I... I don't...like you," she dared to articulate, "I don't trust you."

"Oh," Seifer snapped as he turned to scowl at her, "Quit being a chicken - or do you want us to stay here and die?"

Hunching down, Kaiyou tried to say something to defend herself, "No I – I-"

"Just shut up," Seifer snapped, "I'm tired of your mouth. Stupid girl, you're the one who got us into this mess anyway."

The words alone, Kaiyou could have handled, but the wide-eyed looks Hayner, Pence, and Olette turned on her were what hurt the worst. She could see it, like a physical thing, their trust – tenuous already – shatter into pieces. She'd lied again – by omission. It was only a step further to believe that she'd lied in the things she'd said too. And it opened the gate for them to believe anything anyone else might say about her... Someone like Gary would take advantage of this situation without a second thought.

_'And I did it all to myself,'_ she bemoaned, forgetting again that Umi wasn't there. _'I'm not fit to be out by myself,'_ she realized. _'I can't make the right decision. I have nothing with which to make decisions. My heart is clear – yet I'm held accountable for the decisions I do make when I really have no choice in them._

_'I am... a tool.'_

Seymour continued to smile throughout this, "Perhaps you can discuss this later, in a safer location," he offered and turned, grandly sweeping out of the destroyed bridge, "Please, follow me," he murmured soothingly over his shoulder.

The others stared at Kaiyou a little longer, almost waiting for her to deny Seifer's accusations, but when she didn't, Hayner turned away, disgusted. Fuu and Rai followed after him. Seifer stayed a moment longer to look down at her with that sneer, then turned and swept from the room.

Finally, Pence and Olette turned to leave.

Kaiyou remained where she was, unaware that anyone was still in the room until Vivi's shadow loomed over her.

"Aros," he said softly, "we should go..."

"Go," she whispered, "It's better this way. If I die here... it's better."

Vivi didn't move, though.

"Go!" Kaiyou whispered harshly.

"Y..you...were the one who told me to just be myself," Vivi pointed out, shuffling his feet.

Kaiyou clenched her teeth together, closing her eyes tightly. _'He's right... I did.'_

"I know you're not a bad person," Vivi continued. "You really did do your best."

"It just wasn't good enough. It's never good enough," Kaiyou whispered, resting her forehead against her knees.

Vivi shook his head, then had to catch his hat, "I don't believe that."

"You don't know me."

"Aros..." Vivi said softly, "I – I don't think you should just give up. Life is... is too short to just give up."

Finally lifting her head, Kaiyou had to ask, "And what would bring you to that conclusion? Are you a tool for everyone to just _use_ and _use_ till you're dead?"

Vivi stared at her for a long moment.

He nodded.

"I was. But I broke free from that."

His voice was so innocent. Kaiyou could only stare at him for a long time, then blinked tears from her eyes as he reached over and awkwardly patted her knee. "It's okay, Aros," he said, "Don't give up. You might be a tool, but you have a mind still. You have the ability to choose who you fight for and why. And even if no one seems to appreciate it now... they'll know you did a lot of good when you're gone."

Kaiyou couldn't think of anything to say for a long moment – though she did hear Rai's voice from outside, shouting for Vivi. "I... I met Dagger," she said finally, "She got kidnapped by one of my enemies. I took her home. I met one of your people too. He was tending a stall in Alexandria." Looking down again, she continued, "I was going to offer to take you home..."

Vivi seemed to smile somehow. "I'd like that," he said, "I mean... Seifer is nice and all, but ...I want to go home." Looking back towards the door as Rai called again, Vivi added, "but we have to get out of here first."

Nodding, Kaiyou sighed softly, "I ...just really don't like that guy. He reminds me of someone I hate."

With a shrug, Vivi offered his hand to her, "He's our only way out for now, though." Sighing in defeat, she took his hand and got to her feet, following after him as they picked their way out of the ship.

The others were standing outside, waiting.

"Vivi, what took you so long?" Seifer demanded.

Adjusting his hat, Vivi looked up at the taller young man, "Um..." he started to stammer.

"Never mind," Seifer growled as he spotted Kaiyou – who avoided his gaze.

_'I...can't just die,'_ she told herself, _'Sora would...be upset...'_ she tried desperately to refrain from asking if she really needed Sora's permission for anything. After all, she'd lived this long without him.

_'No, I don't want to think like that! That's... everyone else reflecting on me...in me.'_

Reaching into her sidepack, she grasped the little box with her prize from the Alexandrian magic show. It was a small thing, but it brought her comfort at least.

Seymour smiled, "Shall we go then?" he asked and she could feel his gaze on her. She didn't look up. She didn't want to see that hungry look in his eyes. That yearning to possess her, which she suspected was there, in his black heart. _'No choice... none at all,'_ she mused, walking silently at the back of the group with Vivi out the doors of the train station.

Beyond... landed in the plaza in front of the station was a ship – well, _in_ was not quite the term. However, it was in close enough proximity for the hatch to be firmly planted into the cobblestones of the plaza. Looking up and up, Kaiyou strained her neck to look at the ship. It certainly wasn't a Heartless or Nobody space pirate ship. It was painted bright blue and red and neon green with fanciful designs. It had a giant globe for a bridge set between two long outstretched arm-like structures, and two wings spreading out on either side with large spinning wheels horizontal to the ground that appeared to be powering the ship's anti-gravity field. Seymour gracefully led the way, pausing at the hatch to lift a long-fingered hand, "This way," he murmured, his soft tenor sending shivers down Kaiyou's spine.

This was where Hayner hesitated.

Seifer strolled right past the slightly younger boy, as if he was completely used to this kind of thing. Rai and Fuu followed after their leader.

Kaiyou hesitated as well. She didn't want to make a fuss again and draw everyone's attention and get yelled at more... but she really didn't want to get on that ship. Vivi, however, headed forward, as if comfortable with the idea as well...

_'I can't...just stay here. I have no choice.'_

Swallowing, Kaiyou stepped forward, aware of Seymour's spreading smile. She hunched her shoulders and cast him a glare, letting him know she knew exactly what he was up to and that she didn't like it. His smile, though, was pleasant. Ever the gracious host, it seemed.

Hayner, furious that Kaiyou would just walk past him like that, puffed his cheeks and stalked afterwards, Olette and Pence followed him. They glanced back frequently at the town behind them. Olette's eyes were shining with unshed tears.

Sweeping up behind them, holding out his arms to shoo the kids along, Seymour herded them up a ramp and into a hallway as the hatch closed behind.

_'No turning back now...'_ Kaiyou thought as she paused to look back briefly, then headed forward again.

"I'll show you to a place you can rest," Seymour purred.

* * *

For a majority of the ride back to Disney Castle, Riku remained silent. He pretended to be absorbed in piloting the ship, despite Rikku's constant pestering. He'd been unlucky enough to get Yuna and her companions on his ship. At least it wasn't a long trip back to the castle. Still, Rikku wasn't inclined to be quiet and Riku was entertaining thoughts of making Yellow-Fairy-Paste out of her.

It had been decided that Riku would pilot one of the two ships they were taking back. Roxas was piloting the other; his passengers were his Technical Brother Squall, and his Technical Father Laguna, and Riku's Technical Father Vincent. _'We're... rather alike in that way, I suppose,'_ Riku had to admit. It was a disturbing thought. _'I really don't care for Roxas's attitude. He's nothing like Sora. Even that replacement personality DiZ gave him was obnoxious.'_

Inwardly, Riku sighed and concentrated on docking the gummi ship, ignoring Rikku as she flew circles around his head.

Finally setting the ship into dock, he stood.

From the Ether, or whatever it was called, the place had looked just the same. He'd been in on the call Roxas had sent to the castle ahead of them to tell Mickey that they were returning successful and who all had stayed. Riku hadn't bothered saying anything in that call since the full report would be given shortly. Turning, he headed past Yuna and Khimari to the door.

'_Can I get out of going to this meeting? Let Squall and Roxas explain everything?'_ Riku wondered as he stepped into the dock. Roxas, Laguna, Vincent, and Squall were already ahead, Roxas leading the way at a run, his father a few feet behind. Squall and Vincent were sedately walking and Riku's long strides easily helped him catch up with the pair of tall men.

Squall looked irritated, as always. Apparently, he'd managed to collect a semblance of his mask to put back on. Riku really didn't blame him, after having to hear all about how poor Yuffie died.

Riku was tired of hearing about it – tired of hearing how it might be possible to restore Yuffie, and tired of the endless circled conversation between Yuna and Rikku about how that might come about. Paine, thankfully, had taken a seat in the copilot's chair, apparently interested in figuring out how to pilot a gummi. Riku was fine with letting her watch. She didn't ask stupid questions about what this button did, or that lever, or that joystick – while in the process of pushing, pulling, or twiddling said mechanisms. So, he felt no remorse when he strode past Squall and straight to the door that would lead into the palace from the gardens. Let Squall deal with Yuna and Rikku, he needed to hear Yuna's ideas on how to save Yuffie more than Riku did.

As for Vincent...

Breezing past without even looking at the man, Riku forced his expression blank. _'I don't want to think about it.'_

And he truly didn't.

'_Kadaj... what I did was wrong... Both times – damn it!'_ Pushing his thoughts and memories aside, Riku instead concentrated on his destination. Breaking into a jog, he caught up with Roxas and Laguna and was the third to enter Mickey's library. _'I want to see Kaiyou,'_ he decided instead and turned a different direction from the Library. Squall and Vincent didn't say anything about it.

Stalking through the halls, Riku first headed up to Kaiyou's room, then stopped when he found it empty. The bed was made, nothing of her things were left out, or in any of the drawers. The tub didn't even look to have been used lately.

Slightly worried by that, Riku turned and headed for the balcony they'd ended up meeting on so often.

That too was not occupied.

Leaning over the railing, he looked down into the gardens and found no one.

Frowning in increasing worry, Riku headed off to look for Kairi. _'Maybe they're having girl time?'_

With increasing worry, Riku found the same thing in Kairi's room as he'd found in Kaiyou's. The bed was made, nothing of Kairi's was set out or in the drawers. Firmly, he refused to entertain the thought that they might be gone. Instead, he stepped out of Kairi's room, wondering where he might look next.

It was with relief that he spotted Roxas jogging towards him – and considering his current mood and state of mind, the occurrence of the words "Roxas" and "Relief" being in the same sentence was probably making hell unseasonably cold. Apparently the blonde had decided to skip out on the meeting as well.

"Riku – have you seen Kairi or Aros?" Roxas asked as he jogged up and came to a stop.

Unnerved by that question, Riku replied flatly, "I was looking for them as well. You can't sense Aros?"

"...no," Roxas admitted, eyes wide and worried. "Maybe Mickey knows?" he offered and turned, starting off at a dead run. And because Riku was just as nervous about this, he sprinted after Riku and easily leapt the wall and balustrade to the hall-balcony. Roxas scrambled up after him and turned, heading for the library.

Slamming the doors open, Roxas and Riku skidded to a halt, Roxas, after pulling a breath, demanded of those present, "Where's Aros and Kairi?" In the Library sat everyone that was left of the team as well as Mickey, Donald, and Goofy.

Mickey looked down, tail twitching behind him where he was perched on the edge of his desk, "...I...let her go."

"You _what_?" Roxas demanded.

Taking a breath, Riku let it out, calming himself before he did something rash. After all, the others were still in the room – along with Vincent. His father was staring at him.

He pointedly ignored Vincent.

Shaking his head, Mickey lifted his eyes and continued, "Forcing her to stay here was ...wrong. Her heart may be the Amplifier, but her will still directs it. So I let her go. She took Kairi, Kosuiko, and Demyx with her... They should be safe enough."

Roxas groaned, "Demyx is useless in a fight!"

"Kairi's gotten better," Riku added blandly but it still wasn't much hope, all things considered.

"She's still no match for anyone from the Organization," Roxas retorted, rounding on Riku. "Aren't you worried? I thought you cared for Kairi at the least!"

Without answering, Riku turned and started for the door.

"Wait – where are you going?" Mickey jumped to his feet on his desk and called, lifting a hand as if that could stop Riku.

"To get a ship," Riku stated, "And go find them before they get in trouble." Looking back over his shoulder, he cast a dark look at the king, "What else would I be doing?"

Withdrawing his outstretched hand, as if burnt, Mickey sat back on his desk, looking a little hurt, "...Right... You can take any one you want. – oh... and Aros said, before she left, that she had contact from Sora. She said he's with a man that knows Cloud," Mickey shook his head, trying to remember the rest, "She said that Sora told her that the guy who saved him talked a lot and had black hair."

"Did Aros say where they were?" Squall asked.

"No," Mickey admitted.

Nodding, Riku turned and started off again, "Roxas. You coming or what?"

"...Right," the ex-Nobody replied and turned, heading after Riku.

Abruptly, Laguna got up and dashed after them, "I'm going too!" he called, making Riku wince. But, having a mage along wasn't a bad idea ... and Laguna's presence was better than Vincent's.

* * *

"Why don't you just go away?" Hayner asked. He was pacing back and forth in the room they'd been shown to on Seymour's ship. It had several beds, one of which Olette was occupying, and a bar behind which stood a creature with blue skin and a strange accent that emphasized "ou" syllables and a lisp. The creature had said it was a Hypello, or something like that. Not that any of the kids really cared. It was quiet and only talked when spoken to, which was fine with the kids.

Kaiyou lifted her head from where she was seated on one of the stools at the bar, farthest from the group. Looking towards Hayner, she realized he had indeed been speaking to her and sighed.

"I can't believe you lied to us again!" he raged, expending his pent up emotional energy at her. While she could understand it on a level, she didn't like being the recipient of it.

Her fingers rubbed the opalescent white egg she'd gotten from the Alexandrian Fair. Remembering that one good day with her father was at least making the situation more bearable.

Hayner paced the other direction, throwing his hands into the air, "I don't believe you're related to Sora at all, you know!" he threw at her when she didn't bother answering him. "You're probably just something made by the Heartless, trying to trick us into something."

Sitting up, Kaiyou looked towards him, "If there's any tricking going on, I'm not the one doing it," she stated flatly, "That'd require far more intelligence than I've displayed thus far." Getting to her feet, she bristled at him and continued, "I may not have been completely honest with you, but I've got my reasons, and frankly, I'm tired of trying to please everyone! I don't care what you think or say, Hayner. But if it makes you feel better to hate me, then go ahead." Heading for the door, she was amazed when it actually opened. Stepping out, Kaiyou let the door close behind her, then looked around, wondering where she could possibly go now...

Lifting her hands with her kinda-glowy egg, Kaiyou clasped it against her chest and closed her eyes, trying not to break into tears. _'I just... can't stop making a mess of things, can I?'_ she wondered, then picked a direction and started walking.

The ship's interior was mostly bare metal with patterned carpets covering the floors. Not very inspiring décor, but Kaiyou supposed that was mostly because any trips taken in this thing were probably not very long. Her random travels ended with her in what appeared to be some sort of observation deck. Beyond the windows, the swirling colors of ...Ether, she supposed it was best described as... moved past like smoke and clouds. Making her way to one of the windows, she put her forehead against the cold glass, trying to stem the headache she'd had since the ship had taken off.

"Ah, here you are..." murmured Seymour's tenor voice.

She didn't like his voice. It was too sugary sweet. Pushing off the glass, she turned around to face him, heartbeat picking up as she realized that she was alone with him. Not a good idea...

He glided across the floor towards her, a smile on his lips. He looked so serene... "There's no need to fear me," he said, "I have no intention of harming you..." He glanced away briefly, then smiled again and said, "I'm sure you know what I am."

"Yeah. I know," Kaiyou replied, "Like I could mistake it for anything else."

Seymour's smile widened briefly before he replied, "I'm different, though. The others... will use you, then keep you around for their amusement. My heart may be black, but I am still capable of kindness."

She stared at him in silence, not believing a word he said.

He continued, "I, on the other hand, offer you rest. Once I have succeeded, I will send you to a place of peace, where you will never be used again."

"In other words," Kaiyou translated, "You'll use me, then kill me."

"I'm allowing you to choose for yourself," Seymour replied. "Of course you have the option to oppose me. But I ask that you refrain from deciding until I have shown you where you will go once I grant you rest..." Bowing slightly to her, he turned, heading off before she could say anything further.

_'What... the heck...did he mean by that?'_ she was left wondering.

* * *

AN: I'm very very sorry for not updating in so long... the fall semester was a real kick in the butt. This semester has been easier but... well, due to some issues, I've just not written anything. So, maybe I'll be able to write some more now that I've gotten a little more free time? anyway... I'd give a next-chapter summary... if I knew what was going to happen in the next chapter. For now though, I'll just say that it has something to do with a "Redhed in the Snow" and Sora finding some interesting surprises.


	72. Who Called for a Clown?

_Chapter 72_

_(Who Called for a Clown?)_

"Brr!" the redhead complained as she climbed out of the small cave opening, rubbing her shoulders.

Blandly turning to look at her, the slender blonde replied, "Perhaps you should stay in the cave?"

"Here, have my coat," the third member of their unfortunate party offered, taking off his fur-lined jacked, handing it to Kairi.

Kairi, casting a smile up at Demyx, gladly took his coat and pulled it on, wrapping her arms around herself in an attempt to stay warm. Her legs were still freezing, which caused her knees to knock together. "I still... can't believe we're here... Why is it so cold?"

"I told you," Umi replied flatly, "This is Aros's diary. This is where she has stored all her memories. I would think it cold for obvious reasons."

Heaving a sigh, Demyx stated, "What? She's really a bitch at heart and that whole politeness thing is a front?"

Turning a dirty look on the Nobody, Umi stated, "No. I'm the bitch. Aros is exactly what she seems." A gust of chill wind whipped past the three as they stood on the beach of an island Kairi knew quite well... Except, she didn't. Not this island, anyway.

This island was identical in features except the beach was crowded with headstones and the sea was a solid mass of ice, though it occasionally shifted, chunks breaking off the large spikes that stabbed accusingly at the sky.

"It's getting warmer," Umi noted.

"I don't notice a difference," Demyx replied blandly.

Apparently irritated, Umi stepped away from the two, sweeping out between a pair of headstones. Her hand came to rest on one that was completely cleared of ice. "The sea is melting," she informed her companions, then pointed as another hunk of ice broke off a nearby spike and crashed to the ground, breaking it. Turning her head to look over her shoulder at them, "Soon... Aros will be whole," she sighed.

Kairi, fingers clenching the leather of Demyx's jacket, stepped forward slowly, "You have nothing to be afraid of... You won't disappear..."

"No," Umi replied, shaking her head, long blonde hair swaying behind her, "I've no fear of disappearing. I shouldn't exist. I fear...for Aros. After she's whole..." Bowing her head, Umi took a breath before continuing, "I know she needs to be whole – for if she isn't, she'll never truly be alive. But... once she is... she will be in a form more easily used. I've witnessed her heart turn from water to ice and now it is returning again..."

Stepping closer, Kairi couldn't help herself. She reached out, putting her arms around Umi from behind, laying her head against the Nobody's back, "She'll have Sora, and Roxas, and Riku, and me to look after her. We'll make sure she's safe. I promise!"

"So uh, hate to interrupt, but, uh, you never did say how we got here, or where Kosuiko went," Demyx interrupted, untouched by the scene or the cold. He just stood there, hands on his hips as he looked on in apathy.

"Kosuiko and I have merged. I knew that was likely going to happen by bringing her here, but I couldn't allow her to be killed. As for how we are here... I opened a portal by borrowing Kosuiko briefly," Umi replied.

Demyx sighed, "And how do we get out of here?"

Silence fell, except for the breaking of ice and perhaps the faintest sound of surf washing against the frozen beach.

"I see," Demyx said after a moment more. "You don't know."

"It's ...a chance," Umi said slowly, "that you may be stuck here. But... Sora enters and exits easily. Perhaps when he comes, he can take you with him."

Kairi straightened from where she'd still been hugging Umi's back and asked, "What of you?"

"And when will that be?" Demyx asked at the same time.

"I will stay. I am the keeper of this place. I must not leave, or everything might come back at once," Umi replied softly, "That mustn't happen. As for when... I'm sorry. I don't know. It depends on whether any events in the world around Aros trigger something."

Demyx put his hands to his head as he demanded melodramatically, "And what do we do till then? Make snowmen?"

Abruptly, Umi burst out laughing.

Kairi blinked, "Umi?" she asked slowly. "Are... you okay?"

"Yes," Umi breathed, "Yes, I'm fine." Stepping away from the redhead, she turned to face the two, "If you want to build snowmen, I'm sure Aros would find that quite amusing."

"Really?" Kairi asked, actually excited. She'd heard about snow, but she'd never gotten to actually play in it. "Can we have a snowball fight too?" she asked.

In answer, Umi ducked away, sweeping up a hand-full of snow and in a swift motion, lobbed it at Kairi before the other girl could dodge.

Shrieking in surprise, Kairi lifted her hands to defend her face, then crouched down to gather up a hand full of snow and fling it back at Umi.

* * *

Xemnas sighed as he stared down at the armor lying on the floor in the room of sleep, underneath the generator room of Radiant Garden's castle. He knew that a battle was going on above him – knew that Rufus or Leon and his cohorts were likely going to die. However, the outcome didn't really matter to him now. He'd gotten what he needed the Princes of Darkness for, so they were free to do as they liked now. As for the room he was occupying at the moment... The walls were white, the floor was gray, and there was a chair in the center of the room with chains wrapped around it – like it was going to fly away.

He might claim that he felt remorse, or sadness, or even loss... And he could argue that he did till he was blue in the face. But the truth of the matter was that it would all be just another act – a waste of time, really.

But, even if he really didn't have a heart to feel all the aforesaid emotions, Xemnas did still have his mind, and some fuzzy memories that may or may not have been his own. Not like he really could honestly say one way or the other on those, but as the great philosopher Descartes said once: I think, therefore I am. And that was good enough for Xemnas.

Unfortunately, he wasn't allowed much time to reaffirm his existence these days. Sora had become a much greater nuisance than he'd ever been before. The sanctity of the world boarders was shot to hell and back, which meant that the worlds were starting to connect. People's hearts were beginning to speak to each other, across the void of the Ether, opening new pathways of light that were making it harder and harder for his minions to get around. Like trying to climb through a laser-guarded bank vault with all the lasers in random patterns like a spider's web, and wherever they met another path, they only got stronger.

It was inconvenient and annoying and Xemnas really wanted rid of ALL these meddlers that had sprung to Sora's aid.

What he _really_ wanted was the Amplifier, but none of his stupid lackeys could seem to get hold of _her_ either. "Failures," he muttered, "every last one of them. Can't keep hold of Sora. Can't kill Sora. Can't kill Sora's friends. Can't get hold of the Amplifier. I'd trade Kingdom Hearts for some actual _useful_ and _loyal_ help." Clenching a fist, Xemnas pretended to be enraged for a moment. "Even that idiot Marluxia has turned coat again – Axel is gone, Demyx turned traitor, Larxene is missing, Luxord is missing. Vexen won't go out and fight – and I don't trust that Hojo man enough to leave him to his own devices anyway..."

Sighing once again, Xemnas stepped back, then carefully sat in the chain-tied chair. "Old friend. What do I do?" he entreated the armor.

Of course, there was no answer. It would have been time to get his head checked if there HAD been an answer.

As it was, though, Xemnas fell into silence for a moment while he thought.

"I should send someone to get Kari," he mused, "I need her to open a door or two for me here." Lifting a hand, he rubbed his chin, "But who should I send?" Again, he fell silent as he mentally scrolled through the troops he had remaining. There was Xigbar, Xaldin, Vexen, Saix, Zexion, and Lexaeus. Vexen was busy, so he was automatically out. Zexion was Vexen's helper, at least for now. Saix had an unfortunate tendency to smash things when he got angry, so sending him on a capture mission would be idiocy, better to send him after Sora.

"I'll send Xaldin to capture Kari – Kairi," Xemnas corrected himself, "I've been reading too many files," he mused. "And Lexaeus... I'll send him to get the Amplifier. ...if he's not defected with Marluxia again. Idiots. Don't they see that there are more important things than mere _hearts_?"

Getting to his feet again, he looked down at the armor lying on the floor, "I should go check on the progress of that new weapon," he mused and turned, opening a portal, and stepping into it.

Stepping out on the other side, Xemnas glanced around the lab in The Castle that Never Was. Hojo was not there. Neither was Vexen. Zexion, however, was.

Crossing the room to the other Nobody, Xemnas leaned forward to look down at what Zexion was working on.

"Is this it?" Xemnas asked of the mess of wires, metal casing, and strange glowing crystals that Zexion was carefully using tweezers to assemble. "The weapon that was in the book?"

With a drawn in breath, Zexion straightened and wiped his hands off on the smock he was wearing, while Nobodies tended to not care about fashion or cleanliness, Zexion at least took his work serious enough to keep unneeded bits of clothing out of it. As a result, he'd removed his black coat and was currently wearing a charcoal grey lab smock. "Yes," Zexion stated flatly, "It looks like a toy, but certainly isn't something to be played with." He fiddled with one of the finger-sized crystals, lifting it up to look at its glowing greenish depths.

Xemnas folded his arms, "And have you figured out what it does?"

"Yes," the other Nobody reported. "It is a weapon that drains life, or Mako as Professor Hojo calls it, from targets it is pointed at."

"Really..." Xemnas mused, "that is ...interesting."

"This is a weapon that could potentially destroy us," Zexion pointed out. "Since without souls, we would be quite dead."

Flipping a hand, Xemnas turned away, "I'm aware of that, Zexion. Carry on."

Without giving the other Nobody a chance to reply, Xemnas stepped out of the lab door and let it close behind him.

* * *

Getting to the mainland had been quite a feat – considering that the ferries hadn't been running – at least until Zack had stolen one. Sora would have objected to the outright theft, if he hadn't been so worried about his mother. Listening intently to the radio while Zack drove the boat, Sora was getting increasingly impatient with the speed of their ride. All the news was saying was how terrified the population was and people were fleeing the capitol city but there really wasn't anywhere to go. SeeD had blockaded the borders, and that really wasn't doing much either, though the attackers – whatever they were – seemed content to mill about the streets close to the capitol building, which some crazy clown man had taken over. Emperor Kefka, he was calling himself in broadcasts, and he had all the public officials that had been in the building captive, including Sora's mother.

"Can't this thing go faster?" Sora implored as he wandered back and forth across the bridge.

"No, Sora, it can't," Zack replied evenly. He had the patience of a saint. "I wish it did, though," he admitted, apparently just as anxious to get to their destination. "The more time we waste in transit, the more people die..." He slammed a fist against the wheel of the ship in frustration.

Stepping up beside the dark-haired man, Sora peered up at Zack. "It's alright. We'll save as many as we can," he said, forcing himself to accept that as the best possible solution. Turning to look out the front window, he put a hand to his forehead briefly, then rubbed his eyes.

"You alright?"

"Still a little dizzy," Sora admitted, "I'll be alright. Promise!" Flashing a grin at Zack, he added, "I've got too much to fight for right now to be sick. I'll deal with it later, okay?"

Zack sighed and shook his head, "Unfortunately, you're right. If the situation were different, I'd tie you up and _make _you rest."

Sora burst out laughing.

"I'm glad I've got friends like you," the brunet announced cheerfully as Zack looked at him.

Finding himself smiling as well, Zack shook his head, "You're a good kid, Sora," he agreed. Silence fell as they looked through the front window of the bridge.

Ahead lay a line of battle ships that were blocking the way into the harbor and thus the docks. Zack was about to comment that they may have to beach or abandon ship in order to get on the mainland when a voice interrupted.

"_Identify yourself!"_

Starting, the two fighters looked around, finally realizing that the voice had come from the radio.

Picking up the speaker next to the radio, Zack spoke into it, "This is First Class SOLDIER Zack Fair."

"_...huh? ...Landing is prohibited, turn your vessel around and return to the island."_

"Afraid I can't do that. I'm escorting the president's son," Zack replied, then grinned at Sora.

"_...What?"_

Taking the speaker from Zack, Sora spoke into it, "You heard him! I'm Sora Loire, and Zack and I are going to go rescue my mother, so stay out of our way."

There was silence from the radio for a short time. _"Return to the island. Landing is prohibited,"_ the voice repeated, sounding quite resolved about it. _"This is no place for kids."_

"I know," Sora said, "But I know what's going on. I know how to fix it! Please don't get in our way." Setting the microphone down, he turned to Zack. They exchanged a look, silently agreeing to not bother answering the radio again.

However, that resolve wavered when another voice spoke, _"Sora? Is that you?"_ This voice, Sora didn't recognize. _"Sora, this is SeeD Irvine Kinneas of Balamb Garden. Please don't come here, the situation is really dangerous. Your mother would be really upset if you got hurt."_

Glowering, Sora picked up the speaker again, "Saving worlds is in my blood! My father did it, my brother did it, and I've done it. Stay out of our way!"

"_Wait! You remember him?"_

"If you mean Squall or dad than yeah," Sora admitted, wondering what this guy knew. "I've met them."

"_Hyne!"_ Irvine said, apparently forgetting he had the send-button pressed still, _"Open the port. Let them in."_ there was muffled objections, then Irvine snapped,"_...Do it!"_

Zack grinned, "Must be nice having famous relatives."

"More it amazed him that I remember them," Sora admitted, looking towards their destination. Ahead, the blockade was moving and their ferry slid past a battleship. Sora turned to look at a sailor standing on the deck, watching them go past. It was a bit surreal. "What a waste..." Sora sighed, "That's not going to do anything to the Heartless."

Nodding in agreement, Zack concluded, "Just going to hurt panicked civilians."

Ahead was the port, and Zack expertly put the ferry into dock. Shutting down the engine, he picked up his sword and hooked it onto his back, then turned, heading for the deck. Sora was two steps ahead of him and leaping the railing with a rope to tie the boat off, which he did swiftly and accurately. Zack, seeing that Sora had the front end of the ship secured, took the back. "You've done that before," he noted.

"Well," Sora grinned, "I live on an island," he pointed out, and I also got a real pirate to show me how to do it right."

"Sora Loire," the voice of Irvine Kinneas was only slightly different in reality than it had sounded over the radio. The man who owned it was tall with red-brown hair tied back in a ponytail. On his head, he wore a cowboy hat, on his legs he wore jeans and chaps, and on his shoulders he wore a buckskin duster. He was striding towards them with a gait that said he meant business. "I ordered them to let you through because I thought it would be better if someone from SeeD oversaw your protection personally." Irvine's eyes traveled towards Zack. "Who's this?"

"First Class SOLDIER, Zack Fair, sir," Zack saluted in what was obviously a military style.

"Soldier? Of where?"

"Radiant Garden," Zack supplied.

"Hey..." Irvine said, "That's..."

"Squall went there," Sora supplied with a grin. "I met him."

"Prove it," Irvine challenged.

Pondering briefly, Sora put on a serious face and lowered his voice as he lifted a hand to his forehead – as if fingering a scar – and said, "Whatever."

Abruptly bursting into laughter, Irvine bent over, slapping his knee. "That was good!" gasping for a breath, the man straightened and shook his head, "That was real good, but I'm still putting you under protection."

"Locking me up, you mean," Sora folded his arms, "And you're not even going to ask about how I met Squall, or Dad?"

"...Laguna?" Irvine asked.

"Yeah. He was at a place called Disney Castle. He got lost. I also found my sister. I need to tell Mom."

"We can try to get a radio signal in to her, but ..." Irvine started.

Stepping forward and slicing his palm through the air, "No!" Sora snapped. "You're not locking me up. You're either helping me or you're in my way, mister Irvine. But you're not getting in my way! I HAVE to get to where Mom is."

"Sora," Irvine sighed, using a calming gesture at the riled young brunet. "Things are a mess – people are dying-"

"Getting their hearts ripped out by black things," Sora stated firmly, "I have the ability to kill them easily. I've fought them before!"

Zack shook his head, "Only way he's going to believe you is if you show him."

"You think?" Sora asked, looking up at Zack, "Alright, fine."

"No," Irvine stated, "I'm not taking you somewhere you can demonstrate, either."

Irritated, Sora clenched his fits, "You stubborn –" he started to say when his Keyblade suddenly flashed into his palm. "Uhoh."

Immediately on guard, Zack pulled his weapon and turned, putting his back to Sora as an explosion of dark portals opened around them. "Probably attracted by me," Sora admitted, then leapt, "Watch out!" and easily, he slashed the shadow that had appeared behind Irvine.

Caught without a weapon aside from a pistol at his hip, Irvine stepped aside from the attack, then turned to shoot – the paused as he watched Sora wade through the mob of Heartless as if they were no challenge.

Zack wasn't doing too bad either and Irvine simply stood there, defended by the boy and his strange friend. In moments, the dock was cleared of Heartless and Sora straightened, turning to look towards Irvine. "You see?" holding up his Keyblade, "I'm the Keyblade Master. I've got the ability to kill them. I'm the only one who can help Mom."

Irvine chewed his cheek as he stared down at Sora, then looked towards Zack. "I'm still sending someone with you."

"Alright," Zack replied, "Backup would be great to have."

"I'll send Selphie with you."

Sora's jaw dropped, "W-what?" he demanded.

"You think she's a pain in the butt with a jump rope, you should see her with nunchaku," Irvine replied with a grin. "Didn't realize you grew up with SeeD bodyguards, did you?" he asked.

Shaking his head, Sora scratched it, then laughed, "I think it's probably something Mom did to my head," he admitted. "Alright. But if you're sending her, then send Tidus and Wakka if they're here."

Irvine heaved a sigh, "Sending children to do the work of men..." he mused, "They don't have any experience, though."

"I believe in them," Sora said.

Closing his mouth, Irvine adjusted his hat, "Alright. But I'll be coming too." Turning towards Zack, Irvine held out his hand, "Pleasure to be fighting with you."

Taking the man's hand, Zack firmly shook it with a grin. "So long as you can keep up."

"I've done a bit of world-saving myself," Irvine admitted. "I think I can handle some little black things."

"The little ones are the weaklings," Sora said cheerfully, "They get worse." And before either of the men could respond, Sora shouldered his Keyblade and took off down the dock.

Zack sighed and shook his head, "He's good at what he does, but I wonder about his mind... just a little," the dark haired man admitted and strode off after Sora.

"...now that you mention," Irvine muttered, "Me too."

* * *

After catching up with Sora, Irvine had led the way into the harbor's make-shift defense HQ, guiding Sora and Zack into the harbor patrol office, and up a set of stairs to a big room with lots of windows looking out over the harbor. There were others in the room, including three men in military uniforms manning the communications stations.

"Sora!" Selphie exclaimed, throwing herself at him and while he hadn't been expecting that, he caught her, swung her around, then set her back on her feet. Selphie had been standing at one of the windows until he'd entered. Stepping back, she grinned broadly then sobered, "You're ...your eyes glow."

Releasing her to scratch the back of his head, Sora admitted, "Uh, kinda got experimented on, or something. I don't know what happened. But I'm alright now."

Zack looked a little guilty, "If I'd known where I was going, maybe I could have saved you in time."

Turning to face him, Sora objected, "Don't say things like that! I'm alright, Zack. Besides, I think I'm better for it! I don't think I've ever been as fast as I am now!"

Selphie turned to look up at the man Sora had brought with him and cocked her head to the side, "And you're...?" she asked.

"First Class SOLDIER, Zack Fair." Again, Zack saluted.

"How did you meet Sora?" she asked.

"I was hired to rescue him," Zack admitted, then shook his head, unable to really explain much else than that. "I'd say more, but I really don't understand it."

Sora laughed, "Yeah, it's a long story. Selphie! I have a sister! I think you'd like her."

"Where is she?" Irvine asked, breaking in.

"Right now..." looking away, Sora admitted, "I'm not sure, but she was headed towards Twilight Town last and there was an armada of Heartless ships attacking them. But she's alive still." Placing a hand on his chest, Sora lifted his chin and turned to look at Selphie and Irvine. "So I've gotta save Mom and get rid of this crazy clown that's taken over and then I'm going to go get Aros."

Irvine winced, "That's...not your sister's name," he pointed out.

"Do you remember what it is?" Sora asked with a smile.

"Er..."

"I know her name, but she wants to be called Aros," Sora replied. "Where are Wakka and Tidus?"

Nodding, Irvine stepped away, heading to speak with one of the military guys at the radio.

Selphie, meanwhile took over the conversation, "You heard about the crazy clown, but not what he's been doing! It's so horrible! He appeared with a bunch of black creatures – like the ones that attacked before when the world disappeared – and he attacked Galbadia Garden. Then one of the creatures _merged_ with the Garden and now he's parked it on the capitol and taken your mother hostage! The clown put out a broadcast saying he was Emperor Kefka and we were now his peasants in his ever-expanding galactic empire!"

Sora shook his head, "Killing a building-sized Heartless isn't easy, but we can do it."

"He's started executing public officials," Irvine reported, looking back over his shoulder at Sora and those near him.

Clenching a fist, Sora stated firmly, "There isn't any time to fool around."

"Sora!" a voice called from the door to the stairs and the brunet turned around, just in time to get hit in the face with a ball. "Clumsy as ever, ya?" Wakka laughed, catching the ball as it rebounded.

Rubbing his forehead, Sora laughed, "Watch out I don't put sand down your pants," he threatened.

"Childish," murmured a female voice, and Sora leaned to the side to look past Wakka.

Saving him the trouble, the young woman stepped past her boyfriend and into the room, sweeping in gracefully to possess the atmosphere with an authoritative air. Maybe it was her natural attributes or something, but regardless, she had a way of drawing attention and keeping it. "Lulu?" Sora asked, "But...You're not a fighter."

"I'm more capable than you know. Just because I never indulged in your silly antics on the play island." Lulu was a pale girl, made all the more pale by her black hair, dark blue eye shadow, black lipstick, and black satin and lace trimmed dress. Her most stunning features, though, were her rather large breasts for a sixteen year old. Today she was wearing a knee-length black skirt edged in lace, and black peasant shirt with a corset. Around her hips were several more belts than needed, but that was how she'd always dressed when not wearing her school uniform, so Sora wasn't really surprised.

Sora blinked at her, "What do you mean?" he asked, "What do you fight with?"

Pulling her moogle plush backpack off her shoulder, she held it out. "Black magic." Her black-painted lips curved into a slight smile. "You can probably understand why I've not participated in your spars."

Grinning, Sora admitted, "Yeah, getting fried isn't fun. Even if it doesn't kill you straight off."

"B-but!" Selphie objected, leaping up and down, "Where'd you _learn_ that? And why didn't you ever tell _me_?"

"I'm sorry, this country's ban against magic, and witches, is enough incentive to keep my mouth shut."

Sora's brows lowered. "You're not really from here, are you?" he asked.

"Give Sora a cookie! He figured it out!" Tidus laughed as he finally trudged up the stairs. The bleached-blonde boy looked about the same as ever.

"Oh!" Sora exclaimed, "Duh, I knew that. Yuna said she was your friend!"

"_Yuna_?" Wakka, Tidus, and even Lulu, said at once.

"She's alright?" Tidus asked, leaping forward to grab the front of Sora's jacket.

Grinning, Sora nodded, "Yeah. She got turned into a fairy for a little while but she's alright. She and Rikku and Paine are part of a treasure hunting gang called the Gullwings."

Lulu sighed, "That's a relief at least."

Wakka nodded in agreement.

"Well, now that you're done catching up, I suggest we go," Irvine said as he picked up a rifle.

Turning to look at the man, Sora nodded, "Right. Let's go kill some Heartless!" Before anyone could say anything, Sora was out the door and heading down the stairs.

* * *

AN: yes, another chapter, and fairly quickly - don't expect this often, considering finals are creeping up ever so swiftly.

Next Chapter: Malificent's panties are in a wad, Roxas is PISSED, Riku's having weird dreams, and maybe a bit more Sora-love thrown in there.


	73. Sweet Dreams are Made of This

_Chapter 73_

_(Sweet Dreams are made of This)_

Maleficent was furious.

Not that this was anything really new for her, but this time, it was worse than usual.

The Amplifier had slipped right through her grasp – and she hadn't even realized it until _after_ the fact!

Stalking back and forth in her thorny chamber, having created from the remnants of the burning world she had taken over – built it on top off what remained of the old mansion, Maleficent flung her cloak aside as she turned abruptly – only to nearly run into Xemnas as he stepped out of a dark portal.

"What do you want, you blasted _husk_?" she greeted sourly.

Folding his arms and affecting an air of insult, Xemnas declined to respond. Instead, he turned and looked out across the wrecked landscape of Twilight Town. "Lovely mess you've made here," he mused, "Although it seems a little pointless."

Turning away, Maleficent stalked away to continue pacing, "Those _blasted_ Princes! Running off with minds of their own! Only Gary is worth anything – and HE can't seem to accomplish anything of significance either!" the queen of darkness raved, throwing her hands into the air.

Abruptly spinning to face Xemnas again, Maleficent stalked closer, "Mark my words, Nobody, those Princes will ruin everything!"

Xemnas simply smirked at her – while on the inside he longed to have the capacity to fume and rant like her... and actually mean it. "They don't matter anymore," he replied, "We have the Key of Darkness."

"But we don't have the _door_ you fool! What good is a key without a door?" Maleficent fumed, turning away again to pace.

"I have leads on that," Xemnas replied. "It's only a matter of time."

"Time! _Time_? Any more time and that _Keybrat_ and all his little friends will undo everything we've achieved! _If _you hadn't noticed, Xemnas, half your imbeciles have deserted or died! And we can't count on those blasted Princes to do anything useful!"

Lifting his chin slightly, Xemnas stared at her for a moment before coming to the conclusion, "One of them has taken the Amplifier." Maleficent scowled at him over her bony shoulder. "I thought only Gary knew..."

"And every last one of the _Keybrat_'s friends," Maleficent pointed out, "And your merry band of _idiots'_ blundering attempts to capture her have only drawn attention to her! Now Seymour has taken her and it's only a matter of time before he comes after _us_!"

Rubbing his chin, Xemnas pondered that for a moment. "Then we need to find out where Seymour has taken her."

"I've had my Heartless looking," she snapped, "However, a large number of them have taken off after that _blasted_ Kefka! How _dare_ they abandon me!"

Pushing his hand over his hair, Xemnas sighed in feigned exasperation. Though, if he did have the ability to feel, he would have probably been just as annoyed as Maleficent – and likely annoyed at her too for being as incompetent as she claimed his Organization was. "Then I will put my Nobodies on the case of finding him." Led by Lexaeus.

Maleficent scowled at him all the more darkly.

Finished with their conversation, Xemnas turned away, opening another dark portal and stepped into it.

* * *

"Woah!" Laguna shouted, gripping the arms of his chair as they broke out into realspace again – nearly running into a Heartless battleship.

Reacting quickly, Roxas turned their ship, avoiding the collision, but it wasn't a second later that fighter ships emerged from the Heartless battleship and took chase. Without having to be asked, Riku took over full control of the weapons, leaving Roxas to pilot.

Working like they'd always been a team, Roxas and Riku blasted through their enemies, heading for Twilight Town.

Diving in a roll to the right, Roxas evaded missiles from behind, then nose-dived around another swarm of Heartless ships that appeared out of nowhere directly in front of them.

Shots fired out from the Heartless swarm that was gathering behind them blooming into fireballs all around. Several shots shook the ship and more alarms began to go off. Roxas's ship-ops screen lit with red sectors as the damage began to spread.

"Got fires in the aft!" Roxas announced.

"We've got to lose them!" Riku called over the sound of wailing alarms.

"I got an idea," Roxas replied, barrel rolling away again as a concentrated attack came from the right.

Laguna was clutching his hair, a foot on the console in front of him, bracing as best he could. His eyes were wide in terror as they dived straight towards a Heartless battleship.

Ducking into one of the crevices that ran along its side, between its guns, Roxas dived in a barrel roll to the right suddenly, taking a side-path and leaving the following Heartless fighter ships to crash into a spar they hadn't been paying attention to.

"Idiots," Roxas sneered, then took off again, shooting towards the thorny ruins of Twilight Town.

Another set of Heartless fighters swept in from the right, trying to cut Roxas off.

"Keep going!" Riku ordered, his hands quickly working the controls to send a curtain of missiles racing ahead.

"We're gonna crash!" Laguna howled, but couldn't pry his hands free from the arms of his chair to cover his eyes.

"We're gonna make it!" Roxas shouted back.

Breaking into the atmosphere, they shot straight towards the ocean – then slammed into the water in a nosedive that jarred the ship.

"Ah!" Laguna shouted and finally threw his hands in front of his face as a thorny vine loomed up ahead of them in the darkening waters.

Hitting the thrusters, Roxas managed to dodge the vine, but doing so collided their ship off another vine and finally, they slammed into the silt, sending up an opaque cloud.

The lights flickered and shut off...

"...well, we're alive anyway," Riku mused as he sat back in his chair.

A confused fish swam past the front window.

"Hope this doesn't damage the ship," Roxas mused as he watched the fish. "Now how do we get out of here?"

Riku shook his head as he got to his feet and carefully made his way across the slanted deck in the dark. Coming to lean against the consol panel Roxas sat at, Riku tapped a gage, "There's still juice in the teleporter and the ship's not totally demolished. If it's left alone for a bit, it should repair itself."

Laguna wheezed from his chair, "I'm getting too old for this..."

Roxas nodded, "In that case, we should use the port spot in Hayner's hangout place," he replied, "We can explore the town from there." Getting to his feet, expression closed, Roxas headed for the teleportation pad. "I just hope they're alright," he muttered to himself.

"Well," Riku said, "That's close enough to the train station. I noticed a ship crashed there when we came in."

Looking over at the silver haired young man, Roxas raised his brows in question.

Riku remained silent, not wanting to admit that the crashed ship had not looked like something people could have survived. But, on the other hand, he had to hope that Roxas would know if Kaiyou had died. Then again, she might have lived, but Kairi might not have. It was an unsettling thought, but at least they knew that the girls had gone here and found more than they bargained for.

Heading after Roxas, Riku stepped onto the pad as well, Laguna a step behind as he stumbled out of his chair and came to cling to Roxas.

One bright flash later and the three were standing in a partially destroyed little hidden spot at the back of an alley. The walls were mostly standing, but a thorn had burst through one and another thorny vine had snuck in through the curtained door and was firmly latched onto the wall behind them. Immediately, Roxas dashed off to make a thorough check of the room, then shook his head, "Not here," he sighed, "They may have been at home when the attack hit..."

Riku shifted uncomfortably, unsure whether to suggest they go find Kaiyou and Kairi before they go looking for Roxas's friends – splitting up just wasn't an option.

Laguna opened his mouth, then closed it again as he attempted to think of some compromise as well.

It was Roxas, though, who said, "Let's get to the train station first. They may have been at the bell tower." And that was good enough for now. Together, they made their way to the door and carefully climbed over the vine blocking the way. Outside...

Roxas stopped, looking around as a breeze blew ash and the remnants of a poster across the broken ground. "I'm going to _kill_ Maleficent," he growled, clenching his fists.

"She needs putting down – permanently," Riku agreed. Again, while he didn't know this place personally, witnessing the destroyed remnants of a world only reminded him of his own failure to learn from his mistakes.

With that agreed upon, they turned, following Roxas up the hill towards the train station.

* * *

Working in coordination with both SeeD and the military, Sora and his group took back the city from the Heartless, closing them off in the small area surrounding the transformed Galbadia Garden and the government office Riku's father had worked at – until revealing that he was really from another world and some sort of experiment and a whole bunch of other stuff. However, Sora didn't know about that yet, which was probably for the best.

Having finally secured the perimeter, the group Sora had fought with up to this point gathered for a short break to catch their breaths. Stopping in a small seating area in a park near the lawn of the office building, Lulu and Selphie took seats on the bench, Wakka stood behind Lulu, arms folded on his chest. Tidus was a short distance away, slurping from a water fountain. Irvine, Zack, and Sora stood at the edge of the ornamental trees, staring up through the branches at their destination.

Sora watched the wind change directions, pulling at the floating strands that may have been taken for Heartless hair. The building was a strange one, now possessing six arms that were set around the top of the building that had once been fairly fancy. Now, part of it was covered in Heartless flesh, the other parts were destroyed.

On the ballroom balcony, Sora could see a tiny figure in bright clothing. "Is that him," he pointed.

"Huh?" Selphie asked, squinting. "I don't see anything..."

Zack replied, "I do. Dressed kinda funny, isn't he?"

"What?" Tidus asked, insisting on being included in the conversation.

"Kefka," Zack replied, "Is on the balcony. He can probably see us too."

"I don't see him," Selphie replied, "Oh – wait, something white just moved! Oh. You guys can see him?"

"Yeah, clearly..." Sora replied, then looked at Zack.

"SOLDIER modifications," Zack replied with a bit of a shrug.

"Regardless," Irvine interrupted, "We need to figure out how to get rid of him, this weird infestation of black things, and save President Loire."

Sora sighed, scratching the back of his head in thought, "Well, the only way I can think of to get rid of most of the Heartless is to get rid of Kefka, since he's controlling them. And to save mom, we'll have to find Kefka."

Selphie snorted, "All things lead to Kefka, huh?" she asked, then smiled, "Well, we can do it! After all, we beat Ultimecia, right Irvine?"

"Wha?" Tidus asked, turning to look at Selphie. "But... you've been with us the whole time."

"Time," Irvine replied, lifting a finger, "Is the key word there. Ultimecia did some weird stuff with time – compressed it or something. After we defeated her, things went weird."

"Really weird! I had to grow up all over again!" Selphie bounced up and down, "Which really sucked – but then again, I got to have awesome parents this time!"

"And I didn't seem to have any sort of reset at all. I just stepped back into life like not a day had passed." He glanced at Selphie with a bit of a smirk, "You'll be legal again in two years," he leered.

Selphie snorted and decided to ignore him.

"What about, you know... age difference?" Zack asked as he looked from Selphie to Irvine.

"I'm only twenty," Irvine answered innocently. "Like we said, Time got screwed up."

Sora nodded slowly, "So, Leon – I mean, Squall – helped get rid of Ultimecia too?"

"Yeah," Irvine nodded, then lifted a hand to adjust his hat, "But his girlfriend died when these little black things attacked the first time and he left – and didn't come back. I think he was also kinda er... how much DO you remember about your father?"

"I met him," Sora answered, eager to know more.

Irvine started again, "Right... Squall was also kind of upset at Laguna for marrying Ellone – we all kinda were raised in the same orphanage together, so it was a bit weird to have the one he thought of as his sister married to his dad."

Sora blinked, "I guess that does make things a bit weird."

"And then your sister was kidnapped and thought to be dead... That only made things worse," Selphie concluded, looking down, "I felt really bad for you, Sora. You two were always really close, and when she disappeared..."

Lulu sighed softly, "I... remember that," she admitted, "vaguely. We were three at the time. Then it was like she had never existed at all for you."

"Then Kairi showed up," Tidus finished, having finally quenched his thirst, "and you seemed to get better." He dropped to the bench beside Lulu.

Sora pondered that for a moment, "I guess it makes sense..." _'Kairi and Kaiyou do sound similar... And they're kind of similar in a way. Kairi isn't as... deep though. That's not to say she's shallow, but Kaiyou just has so much hidden. I only know because of her diary...'_

Hand drifting down, Sora touched the sidepack Kaiyou's diary was held in.

"Everyone rested?" Zack asked. "I think it's time we made a move on our goal."

Standing, Lulu brushed off the back of her skirt and nodded, pushing her long braids back behind her shoulders. "I'm fine," she stated. Selphie hopped to her feet excitedly; as if she hadn't been complaining ten minutes ago about sore feet and having not fought so much in a long time. Tidus simply got to his feet and hoisted his sword to his shoulder from where he'd stuck it in the ground.

"Heartless will probably pop out when we start across the lawn, take them out, but don't let them slow you down," Zack said, "Try to get up to the ...building," he pointed at what had been Galbadia Garden. "Find Kefka and the President. Priority is saving the President."

Nodding, the group broke into a run, charging across the open lawn.

* * *

It had been an uphill battle – literally and figuratively.

Every step had brought Heartless minions to bear against, and by the time the three had reached the plaza, Roxas was exhausted. Glancing towards Riku, Roxas could tell that he too was tired, but refused to admit it.

As they topped the rise and stepped onto the cracked tiles of the plaza, Riku turned and headed straight for the station's doors – what could be seen of them. The tower itself was mostly covered with thorny vines – except for a hole which had been burned straight through to the doors and beyond.

Stepping closer, Riku placed a hand on the scorched vine, then leaned in and sniffed it.

"What? What is it?" Roxas asked, knowing full well that Riku's nose was better than most people's. Especially when it came to strange powers.

"...My power did this," Riku said as he stepped back.

Roxas shook his head, "That's not possible. You were on Radiant Garden or with me..."

Closing his eyes, he lifted a hand to his forehead, then lowered it to Kaiyou's necklace. "Ah."

"Ah? Ah what?" Laguna asked, trying to scratch the bottom of his foot without taking off his boot. Riku turned to look at him and tried not to laugh.

"Aros did this," he pointed at the charred vines. "With my help." He tapped the necklace, then turned to start in through the hole Kaiyou had made. The other two began to follow.

"Going somewhere?"

Halting at the sound of that familiar voice, Riku turned around swiftly.

Stepping from a swirl of darkness on the other side of the plaza, Maleficent sneered at the three. "And I had such a warm welcome planned for you," the witch sneered coldly.

"Sorry, but you really don't throw great parties," Riku replied as he drew his blade, newly created from Kadaj's double-bladed katana and his own Way to Dawn.

Roxas had already drawn Oathkeeper and Oblivion and fallen into a fighting stance. Laguna, not sure who this woman was, unclipped his gun and aimed it at the woman, following the lead of his two younger companions.

"How could you do this?" Roxas demanded.

"Easily," Maleficent replied and smiled.

Too furious for words, Roxas leapt forward.

Lifting her staff, Maleficent tossed shots of darkness with her other hand, fingers moving like a conductor's.

Swinging his blades, Roxas parried the shots swiftly, then slashed downwards at the witch's head – only to have his blades slice through thin air as she appeared from black smoke some distance away. Riku was already on it, charging low across the ground as Laguna began focusing a spell through his gun.

Once he reached her, Riku swept his blade in an upwards arc, only to be blocked by Maleficent's staff. Free hand coming around, she shot him in the chest with darkness, sending him sailing backwards. Riku immediately threw himself into a flip to land on his feet in a crouch as Laguna, now with a clear shot, opened fire, sending a blast of ice directly over Riku's head. If he'd moved an inch, he would have gotten hit as well.

However, once it went past, Roxas was back in following up the deflected icy blast with a double-thrust from both his keyblades.

At last, caught unaware, Maleficent staggered from the blow and disappeared in a puff of black smoke, reappearing behind Laguna.

Spinning around to face her, Laguna swung the butt of his gun at her face – and Maleficent quickly learned that getting into melee with the ex-soldier was a bad idea. Furious, Maleficent swung her staff around, sending up a wall of green fire, which forced Laguna to retreat even as Riku and Roxas leapt above the flames for a pincer attack.

In an explosion of green fire, both the young men were thrown backwards, Roxas towards the edge of the plaza, Riku towards the thorns.

Throwing himself into a flip, Riku kicked off the vines deftly and focused his energy into a globe of twilight, which he threw at Maleficent. Lifting a hand, the witch deflected it, only to stagger as Laguna's shot of ice slipped through.

Even as she was unbalanced, Roxas leapt back in, slashing at the witch's back.

"Pitiful wretches!" Maleficent shouted, "You'll pay for this!"

Suddenly disappearing in a flash of green fire, Maleficent reappeared some distance away. "Gary!" she snapped, "Make yourself useful."

Dark portal opening beside her and the young man with an angel's face, long black hair tied in a tail at the nape of his neck, and long white coat, stepped out. Gary smiled, cocking his head to the side slightly as his gaze traveled across the group. "Oh, haven't fought that one yet," he mused as his gaze rested on Riku. "This should be fun."

Pausing, he looked towards Maleficent. "Show no mercy," she ordered.

"Oh I would, but I'm afraid I'll need a little something first."

"What?" Maleficent blinked, turning towards Gary as he lifted a hand that had suddenly gone shadowy. Grasping Maleficent's shoulder with the other, he plunged his hand into her breast.

Roxas staggered forward a step as he gasped in shock.

Grip on her staff slipping as Gary wrenched his arm back, Maleficent crumpled to the ground as little more than a heap of cloak. Holding up the black and oozing still-beating heart, Gary smiled sweetly at the three who faced him. "The heart of a dragon," he mused, "Not very pretty, is it?"

As he stood there, the heart emitted black-green smoke, which moved to hover around Gary. Then it stopped, dried up, and crumbled to dust in his grip. Dropping what little remained, Gary ground it under his boot, then stepped forward as he called Obsidian Heart to his hand.

Leaping upwards suddenly, Gary threw out his left hand, a ball of green fire exploding from it and destroying the pavement where Roxas had been standing. Riku exploded into action, swiftly darting beneath the arc of Gary's jump, then sprang up to meet him. Defying gravity, Gary flipped to face Riku, bringing his blade around to block. Then shoving away, they both landed before springing back towards each other.

Locking blades again, they shoved off, then Riku came in low with a stab towards the gut, only to dodge to the side as Gary's blade sliced only inches away from his cheek.

"Oh, you've gotten better," Gary teased, "since that washed up old goat beat the tar out of you."

Riku, ignoring Gary's taunts, instead dodged aside again as Gary made an advance – only to suddenly stagger as Roxas leapt in from behind, slamming both his blades against the Prince of Darkness's back. As Gary turned to face Roxas, the blonde was diving to the side, barely missing getting his hair cut by the sweep of Obsidian Heart.

Flipping away from Gary, Riku cleared the way for Laguna's blast of ice to shoot through, hitting Gary in the chest. Swinging Obsidian Heart in an arc, Gary let loose a blast of green fire, then lifted his right hand into the air, a ball of fire forming in it and steadily growing larger until it dropped on top of the Prince of Darkness and continued to grow.

Forced backwards by the fire, the three so-called heroes were cut off from each other, Roxas near the edge of the plaza, Laguna still near the entrance and Riku near the doors to the train station.

Suddenly, the ball of green flame exploded, sending debris pelting the three who had been staring at it without a clue as to how to fight it.

From the smoke rose the skeletal nose of what had once been a black dragon – remarkably familiar to Riku, who had seen Maleficent in her dragon form at least once. This undead version wasn't much improvement, though. Half its flesh was gone, with gaping holes showing bone, its head was nearly fleshless, except a sort of cap which allowed it to have one eye still in its socket. The other was hanging free and dangling. Within the tatters of the flesh covering its chest, a pulsing green flame could be seen. Gracefully – for an undead creature – the bone dragon uncurled from the blackened pit its birth had created. Seated on its back, Gary grinned broadly, "I always wanted one of these!" he announced cheerfully and raised his bat-winged broadsword, pointing towards Riku. "Fire!"

Obediently, the skull swung around towards Riku, unleashing a blast of green flame. Leaping away quickly, Riku barely avoided getting fried to a crisp. The Maleficent's Undead Dragon form stood, moving to follow Riku as he dodged. Lifting its clawed hand, the skeletal beast slashed at the silver haired young man as he leapt for the beast's rider.

Catching the slap in the chest, Riku slammed against the ground and rolled quickly to avoid being stepped on as the beast, intent on killing only him, continued in its quest. Roxas, thoroughly ignored, leapt atop the dragon's tail, dashing up the rotting spine towards Gary, both blades held out and to the sides as he ran.

Laguna, focusing his power, shot a bolt of ice at the dragon's skeletal lower jaw, distracting it long enough for Riku to reposition.

"Weak spot," Riku muttered as he wiped a bit of blood from his face, having gotten a cut during the monster's birth. Looking up, he watched as the creature shook its head – jaw lodged open by the spread of Laguna's ice-shot, Riku caught Laguna's attention and pointed at the creature's head again.

Getting the message, Laguna focused on his spell-gun again and aimed – only to have to dive aside as the dragon's bony tail flailed in his direction as it finally broke its jaw free from the ice.

Gary, leaping off the dragon's back, flipped over Roxas easily, making a stab for the blonde's back, only to be blocked by Oblivion. Twisting around, and keeping contact with Gary's sword, Roxas stabbed with Oathkeeper, only to find Gary dodging back, dancing down the raised spars of the dragon's spinal column even as it trashed in the throes of its own battle.

Unbalanced, Roxas leapt backwards as Gary came at him again.

Unfortunately, his landing spot was not where he had thought it should have been when he jumped, and landing hard on the ground, Roxas rolled away, having to dodge under the dragon's rotting underside to dodge the blast of green fire Gary had sent after the ex-Nobody.

Riku leapt aside as the dragon's jaws snapped on the space he had been occupying only seconds before. Leaping back in, he slammed his blade into the weakened joint of the dragon's jaw, then took a hit as it swung its head around to send him flying.

Landing hard and rolling to his feet again, Riku ducked under the dragon's attempt to stomp him. Taking aim and firing from his relatively unnoticed post in the doorway of the train station, Laguna froze the dragon's jaw open again. Riku followed up the older man's attack by leaping up and slamming his Keyblade into the beast's jaw again.

The ice shattered, as did the bone – jaw dropping to the cracked and blasted plaza.

Roxas, noticing what the other two were up to, leapt back up onto the black beast's back to continue distracting Gary.

Pouncing upon the Prince, Roxas slashed both his blades at Gary, connecting with Gary's Obsidian Heart first with Oblivion, then sneaking his second strike with Oathkeeper past Gary's guard. Blood oozing down Gary's cheek, the black-haired young man threw his free hand towards Roxas, a blast of green fire striking him in the chest.

Thrown back and landing hard on the pavement, Roxas rolled quickly on the ground to put out the fire before getting to his feet again, calling his blades back to his hands. He was too late, though, for Gary was upon him again, slamming a foot into Roxas's back and sending him face-first into the ground again.

"I'm letting you live," Gary purred as he knelt beside Roxas, wrapping an arm around the shorter boy's throat, "For a reason... I will have the Amplifier. And by her own free will."

Laughing, Gary suddenly shoved Roxas down and stood, disappearing.

Getting to his feet slowly, Roxas looked back to find that Riku and Laguna were still fighting the bone dragon. Taking a breath and rubbing his throat, Roxas dashed forward, ducking under the dragon's swinging tail as it thrashed, thoroughly infuriated at losing a vital piece of its anatomy. Riku and Laguna were already working on the creature's left forearm, disabling it piece by piece, apparently as it tried to prevent them.

Leaping into the fray, Roxas slammed both his blades into the joint Laguna had already frozen and Riku was working on breaking. Like a twig, the joint snapped. "Where did that bastard go?" Riku called.

"Ran off!" Roxas called back. "Go for the throat?"

"Put out its fire!" Laguna called, sounding oddly cheerful for what he was doing. Focusing on his gun, he shot a powerful blast at the beast's chest, his ice shaving off the rotting flesh to reveal a pulsing flame beneath.

"Right..." Riku muttered as he dodged the dragon's left stump.

Leaping up under it, Riku hacked at a rib, shattering the brittle bone into a rain of disgusting rot on his head. Dashing away quickly, he shook bits from his hair as Roxas dived in to take another swing at the weakened spot.

Roaring, even without a lower jaw, the half-rotted corpse of Maleficent's dragon from, reared up to slash at Roxas as he made a run for it – only to get a blast in the chest from Laguna – directly in the hole the other two fighters had created.

Yellow eyes widening, the dragon shook, then toppled to the side, landing with an earth-shaking thud on the plaza, half-draped off the overlook. Slowly, its own weight began to drag it over the side, and Riku jumped over the snaking tail as it nearly swept him off as well. Landing in a roll, he got to his feet and lifted a hand to flick more bits of bone and other things out of his hair. "That was pretty disgusting," he commented.

Taking a moment to catch his breath, Roxas swallowed and straightened. "Let's hurry..." Turning, he headed for the doors to the train station, moving past Laguna quickly.

The ship that had crashed in the station was scattered about like a bird caught by the cat. The hull was cracked open, the front windows smashed out. One wing was standing upright some distance away, piercing a train.

Running for the gash in the hull, Roxas headed for the bridge. He was followed quickly by Laguna, "Aros?" the older man called, worry coloring his voice. Riku paused as he looked down at the shattered glass, then followed Laguna in.

Reaching the door to the bride, Riku paused again, "You guys didn't open this, did you," he pointed at the door lying on the floor.

Turning to look, Laguna, who had been touching the pilot's chair where a rebar had pierced it, shook his head. "It was like that."

"Then someone helped Aros get it open," Riku pointed out. "Because this took a lot of force to knock down," he pointed at where the door had used to be attached. "And there's signs that several people came through here before us. There're scuffs in the glass."

Roxas pressed his lips together as he listened.

"And there're no bodies," Laguna pointed out, "So they must have survived."

Roxas shook his head, but Riku replied, "Unless they got turned into Heartless. There wouldn't be a body then."

Sniffing as he caught scent of something, Riku headed towards the cracked teleport pad and crouched, picking up a piece of glass, then sniffed it closely. "Aros was here. Alive. She left with people, though. Several." Stopping, Riku stood again and sniffed again, "Someone dark came. Very dark."

Roxas shook his head, "That doesn't really reassure me, Riku."

"She's alive at least."

"What about Kairi? Can you tell if she's alright?"

Riku shook his head, "The scents are confused. I can only pick out Aros's," he gestured with the bloodied piece of glass, "and the darkness. They're the most intense in here. The rest... I think I can smell at least four other people aside from Aros and the dark one."

"Four..." Roxas shook his head. "I still want to look for Hayner, Pence, and Olette," he said.

"Well, Aros isn't here," Laguna pointed out, "Maybe she's somewhere else on this world? She'd have to be – she doesn't have a ship."

"Unless the dark one took her," Riku added, unable to let that point slip by without at least considering.

"Still, looking isn't a lost cause," Laguna reasoned, holding his hands out, palms up. Looking at him, Riku read the worry and concern on his face – he was hoping that it would be as easy as just finding her here and hauling her back to the castle. Riku suspected that wasn't the case at all.

"We can go look through the rest of town," Riku agreed finally. Roxas, after all, seemed equally concerned about these other three people.

* * *

For several hours, they had scoured the town, killing the remaining Heartless – most of them had fled with the death of Maleficent, and those remaining were acting chaotically. They were directionless and lost without their queen. Another result of Maleficent's death was her thorns crumbling to dust as the sun began to peek through the clouds of acrid smoke. Now they were heading though what looked to have once been a market place, climbing over the remains of thorns and other rubble.

Roxas was heading at a fairly steady pace in a straight line. He hadn't said a word for quite some time – despite Laguna's attempts. It wasn't very comforting to have someone who looked like Sora, possessing half of Sora's heart, silent and stiffly moving when he didn't have a heartless in front of him to kill.

"Where are we going now?" Laguna asked.

"I think I know..." Riku said as they followed Roxas towards a crack in the city wall. Beyond was what used to be a forest, burned down and choked with thorns. Still, Roxas didn't say a word. Instead, he headed for the gates of the abandoned mansion that Ansem – DiZ – had made his base a year ago.

Riku didn't have great memories of the place. But they were better than the memories Roxas had. Then, Riku realized where Roxas was heading. "You're hoping the computer is still running," he said.

This comment completely lost Laguna.

"Yeah," Roxas admitted.

"Objects from that world can be brought to this one..." Riku admitted and Roxas only nodded to that as he led the way into the mansion, heading for the library.

Stepping into the library, they found the floor was solid – the secret entrance was not open. The table had been moved to one corner.

"Yeah, but..." Roxas said slowly as he came to a stop, "Is it worth it?"

"We should at least check to see if the computer is on and functional," Riku said, offering Roxas something at least. "Even if we can't fix this version of the town, there's still a backup copy."

Laguna, looking from one boy to the other, scratched the back of his head, "What...are you two talking about?"

"Something that happened a while ago," Riku replied dismissively.

"Old things left unfinished," Roxas added.

Looking unsatisfied with either answer, Laguna watched as the young men went over to the table, picked it up and hoisted it to the middle of the room. "Marker..." Roxas muttered and started patting himself down.

Riku sighed and shook his head, calling his Keyblade instead and stabbed it into the table, carving the final symbol in to unlock the secret door. "Will that work?" Roxas asked.

"Why shouldn't it?" Riku replied just as he finished.

Turning, the pair ran for safety – catching Laguna and dragging him back as the floor and table disappeared. "It's just... kinda locked open now," Roxas pointed out.

"Well, I doubt the Heartless are going to come back here. There's nothing to eat," Riku pointed out and leapt down to the basement floor below. After drawing in a breath and letting it out, Roxas nodded and dropped down as well.

Laguna, still confused, took the stairs.

Making their way into the computer room, they found it empty and silent, the screens of the computer black and empty. Roxas watched as Riku stepped over to the computer itself and typed a few keys. Obediently, the computer lit up, several screens showing various views of Twilight town. "Program seems to be running fine," Riku reported, then checked a few things, "The people felt what happened here..." he added, "Or so the fluctuations in the heart-data monitors indicate..." He shook his head, looking towards the transporter. "The computer on the other side is busted, right?" Roxas blushed and looked away. "And there's only that one portal," he gestured towards the portal to the right. "I think we'll need Cid's help doing this if it's going to be done."

Roxas nodded, "I certainly don't know how we'd get entire buildings out of there..."

"I think..." Riku said as he straightened, folding his arms as he stared at the screens in front of him – or more like through them. "I think hold off on deciding what to do with this place until we get everything settled. This is the only backup copy we've got, so..." Roxas nodded.

Turning to look at him, Riku added, "Though, technically, you're the last survivor of this place, so it is your choice in the end."

Roxas looked down. _'A place that doesn't know Sora... My place...'_ Eyes drifting towards Laguna, Roxas peered at the man through his bangs. _'...or live with him and Sora and Kaiyou... and Namine... my heart ...is half of Sora's heart. I can't make a decision now. Not until I know my own mind. I know where Sora would choose. He'd choose his family. Not Twilight Town.'_

"I'll think about it," Roxas stated finally. "Let's get back to Disney Castle and tell the others Maleficent is gone – hopefully for good this time."

"Damn zombie woman," Riku muttered.

Laguna burst out laughing, "She's almost like a wart that keeps coming back!"

Looking towards him, Roxas lifted a hand to try to cover his laugh and failed. Riku even snorted in amusement. "There's a portal over here," he said, bringing them back on topic and headed for the back corner of the room.

Roxas nodded and headed after Riku, followed by Laguna. Together, they disappeared in a flash of light.

* * *

_'So alone... so afraid.'_ Riku closed his eyes where he sat in his room on the Gummiship, having claimed needing rest. Honestly, he did, though, so it wasn't really a lie either. More, he'd wanted some time to himself, to think. _'Afraid of myself. Of what I used to be. Of what I am... Am I just walking down the same path again as before? Am I doomed to repeat my mistakes, over and over? ...at the cost of my friends and family...?'f_

He'd been forced to watch Roxas and Laguna carefully create a bond all day. Mostly it had been Laguna trying so hard to be there for Roxas and Roxas being unfamiliar with that type of behavior and trying to reject Laguna. In the end, the mess they'd found had taken a toll on them all. Roxas, unfamiliar with emotions in the first place was resting. Laguna was doing Hyne knew what. As for Riku, he'd decided he needed to rest too, before they headed back to Disney Castle.

Grinding his teeth together, he lifted a hand to touch Kaiyou's pendant, then lowered it again to remove his glove, taking firm hold of the sharp charm.

_"Riku..."_

Lifting his head, he stared straight ahead, heart skipping briefly. Had he really heard her?

It was silent in the room. A very oppressive silence.

Riku firmly stared at the wall as he strained his ears, then shook his head as he realized he wasn't listening with the right organ and closed his eyes again.

_"Riku..."_ she said again, and this time, he heard her clearly.

Trying harder, he reached for her, unconsciously lifting his left hand out – but in his mind's eye, he could see it... See her, standing a short distance away, gazing at him with that calm, blank expression she usually wore when she didn't want anyone knowing what was going on beneath the surface of her ice.

His hand touched her then.

She gasped, the surface of her ice cracking. He could see it in her eyes as she looked up at him, pearly pink lips parted. Suddenly, the darkness shifted, breaking into a thousand pieces around them. He sensed that they were on a beach at dawn. It was almost like Destiny Islands – the Play Island. Almost. But there was only sand, a mountain, water, and sky. Out, on the horizon, the sky met the water, but it was almost as if the sky and water were one out there. The stars reflected on her surface. That was all they could do. They would never know her depths.

"I used to look at the sky," he whispered, "longing to see other worlds."

Firmly, he gripped her arm.

She stood there speechless for a time, then finally dropped her eyes.

"Riku... you..." she stared at his chest, lifting her free hand to touch his shoulder. "...You have my necklace," she pointed out, figuring that to be a good place to start. She swallowed.

For a moment, he stared down at her, savoring the heat of her arm in his hand – the way her fingers traveled across his other shoulder. The dawn's light in her hair and the way the stars reflected in her eyes. "Yeah," he said finally. He would have given it to her then, but... that was not possible. "The chain broke while you were...thrashing. I grabbed it before it got lost – then we left before I could give it back to you." Slowly, he let go of her arm and lifted both hands to lightly brush his fingers against her face.

Her eyes met his.

Her heart ached.

Stepping forward, pushing his hands aside, Kaiyou wrapped her arms around his shoulders, "Riku," she whispered, petting his hair with trembling hands, "What's wrong – what happened?"

How wonderful it had been to forget – at least for a moment!

He'd tried so hard to shove all his emotions away.

He'd fought desperately to push aside both the memories of his life as Kadaj and his life as Riku. Just so that he would have room to think of the moment and what needed doing. It had been an attempt to find a place he could begin to build a new identity from.

He'd wanted to just go – take a ship and go and never come back – just to find a place he could start a new life, away from these old memories and reminders of things that were all lies. But his efforts to pack it all away were just building pressure. There was only so much he could take.

And between the moment he saw Kaiyou's eyes and the moment she'd wrapped him in her arms, the fault line slipped and his arms latched around her as he broke, sinking to his knees in the crystal white sand. "My life is a lie! Everything I knew was a lie!" he told her, clinging to her even as he felt himself drowning – sinking deeper with every word he told her. "I'm a monster, the son of a monster, the brother of a monster, the creation of a monster! I shouldn't exist!"

Kaiyou said nothing to this, just caressed his hair, absorbing his self-hatred like she always absorbed abuse thrown at her, but her silence angered him, drawing more from him. "I don't deserve to have friends – I tried to destroy Radiant Garden before, in my last life – I succeeded in destroying Destiny Islands in this life. I tried to destroy Sora, I tried to destroy Roxas, I worked for Maleficent, I worked for Jenova, I channeled Sephiroth! I killed innocents and thought it was funny! I gave in to the Darkness and didn't care!"

Still, she said nothing, but he knew by the fact that her hands hadn't stopped petting his hair that his efforts to drive her away weren't working. Not that she could have gotten away with how tightly he was clutching her waist. So thin... He could have easily snapped her spine if he wanted.

Instead, he pulled her off-balance, dropping her into his lap where he could cling to her more firmly.

In the processes, though, their eyes met.

Kaiyou's clear blue gaze pierced him through like a lance of ice, pinning him in place even while her warm hands came to his face, smoothing his tears away. "How about you explain from the beginning?" she asked, "Because I really don't understand."

"I'm Kadaj," he said simply, "a clone of Sephiroth – who ...was one of the Princes of Darkness. Cloud killed me. Aerith sent me to be reborn. Then the Time Compression caught me and I was reborn as Riku, Vincent's son, and didn't remember my life as Kadaj. ...But I still made the same stupid mistakes and I wasn't stopped by anyone before I'd screwed everything up. It's a good thing Sora was there to fix what I destroyed. Destiny Islands falling into the Darkness was _my_ fault. _I_ opened the door."

Still, Kaiyou's hands caressed his cheeks and he finally closed his eyes, bowing his head. He couldn't hold her gaze any longer.

"And Vincent... lied to me. He pretended to be nothing more than a paper pusher my whole life as Riku, never hinted that he was a shape-changing cold-blooded killer. Never! ...and he knew who I looked like. But he never said anything and instead tried to...control me. Stop me from becoming what I was before."

Her silence was enough to make him lift his eyes again, but instead of finding condemnation, which he expected, he found... compassion.

"So now," Kaiyou said softly, "You're in the same boat as me... you don't know who you are... or who you aught to be."

Inadvertently, his hands tightened on her hips, pulling her closer.

Sighing softly, she continued, "Riku... is who you are now." Meeting his gaze again, Kaiyou took a breath and explained, "Riku... Earth. You're still the solid grounding Sora needs as his friend and you're still the surface upon which Kairi must cast her Light. Otherwise... what is Sky and Light but formless nothings without an Earth to bind them together?" Licking her lips, she tipped her head slightly, shyly looking away.

_'What is Water without Earth?'_ he added, _'But bottomless and without a home?'_

"Maybe... Vincent did lie... but maybe he was trying to protect you in... a very clumsy way? Maybe he really doesn't know how to tell you that he loves you? ...Just as you don't know how to tell him. Even if your life with him was a lie... Sora and Kairi weren't. They love you as their friend. They know what you did as Riku and still love you." Her words crashed over him like waves, eroding his resolve to leave, washing away his firm footing.

Kaiyou's lips twitched back, not a smile or a frown, just a neutral expression, then she continued, "But now you know what you did in the past, now you can compare what you were then with how much you've changed. How much better you've gotten."

Staring at her face, he realized that he really had no hope of getting out of this encounter with her unchanged.

_'She can absorb me too,'_ Riku realized, _'I want that. I want to be the bottom of her Ocean.'_

"You've been talking to Aerith, haven't you?" he accused.

Shaking her head, Kaiyou looked a little wide-eyed, "Why? I just repeat something she said? ...she seems like a very wise lady..."

"The chain of your necklace was broken. Yen Sid's fairies made a new one for it. A torque actually..." he told her, "Out of my hair..."

This time, he was rewarded with a slight blush.

"Kaiyou... I'm sorry for hurting you the other day... I don't know what I did, though..."

Eyes wide, she blushed even more, "It wasn't your fault... Someone attacked the piece of my heart I gave Sora... Tried to cut it off his arm."

While the news was disturbing, Riku couldn't help but be relieved, "Then it wasn't my fault."

Something in the tone of his voice made Kaiyou look at him again. Pierced through by his gaze, she was completely surprised when he leaned in, tipping her head back with one hand as he put his lips to hers.

Heart pounding in her ears, Kaiyou sat still in his lap – unsure of what to do, but as he began to withdraw, she leaned in, following even as he overbalanced and collapsed back in the sand. The world spun as he rolled over, taking her with him, and now, pinned against the ground by his chest, Kaiyou stared up at his face, which was framed by the curtain of his silver hair – hair which blocked off view of the rest of the scene as he leaned down to kiss her again.

It was a light touch, but one that sent her insides quivering as her fingers tightened on his shoulders. While she really didn't know what to do, she didn't want him to move just yet. His presence was comforting, and closing her eyes, she tucked her face against his shoulder, sliding her arms behind his neck. "...I...did I...help you?" she asked softly, not wanting to speak on the more recent development.

"Yes," Riku said softly. "You helped." Sliding his arms under her, he pulled her close and laid down beside her, face buried in her hair. "I'm not whole and the scars probably won't ever go away, but I'm alright now."

Nodding against his shoulder, Kaiyou replied, "I'm glad..."

_'Besides, if I'm her solid Ocean floor... then no one but her will ever see how damaged I really am... I'd prefer that.'_

"You can keep my necklace."

* * *

AN: so yeah, sorry this took so long to write, but I was quibbling about writing Mal's death scene. Note: this is TOTALLY Herald Aros's fault! Mal's death, Mal's death by Gary, and Mal's return as a ZOMBIE DRAGON! All her fault! (Gary says: I'll name her MUD – short for Maleficent the Undead Dragon!) I decided at the last moment to move the remaining bit of Sora's part to the next chapter, since that would require another epic battle that I didn't feel needed to be in this chapter. Maleficent is the star in this one. Wouldn't want anything like a battle with Kefka to, you know, steal the spotlight. Oh – and if you spot typos, please point them out so I can fix? I wanted to get the chapter out to you guys because I just KNOW you're searching the interwebs for my address so you can stalk me and chain me to my desk and withhold chocolate in order to make me write.

Next Chapter: Seymour's warm welcome to Spira, and that last little epic battle bit I didn't feel like writing just now.


	74. Welcome to Spira

_Chapter 74_

_(Welcome to Spira)_

Breaking out of cover, they were immediately beset by Heartless. Bubbles of darkness exploded, dropping little black bodies onto the lawn of the Capitol building. Sora, so used to this that he didn't even blink, sprang upon the Heartless, dashing their brains out with quick and solid strikes with his Keyblade.

Zack was to his left, covering him. If Sora had the time, he would have stopped and admired the way Zack fought. Every move had multiple effects - the man slashed three and four heartless with one stroke of his large sword and each swing led directly into the next move like water cascading down rocks.

The explosion of a gun going off to Sora's right briefly distracted him and he looked towards Irvine. The man in cowboy gear was lagging behind, riffle lifted to aim and firing off shots at flying enemies, felling them just as swiftly as he could pull his trigger finger. Even as Sora followed the angle of Irvine's gun, Wakka's ball shot out, slamming into one flying enemy and rebounded to hit another, killing both. If there was any proof that Wakka was a skilled fighter with that unconventional weapon, that had to be it, and the realization that Wakka, Tidus, and Selphie had been going easy on him all those years crossed Sora's mind briefly before he ducked a Shadow that tried to tackle his face.

Fire exploded around the leaping heartless just as Sora swung his Keyblade up to knock it aside. The combined attack killed the creature instantly and Sora spun, taking out the heartless next to him that had been going for Zack.

"Don't get caught up here!" Zack called, reminding them all that they didn't need to clear this place – and weren't likely going to. They had their target marked.

Dodging to the left, Sora avoided getting slashed by a Shadow that had popped up under his feet. Tidus, not more than a few steps behind Sora, took care of the creature with an over handed slash that sent the heartless skidding across the lawn before finally flailing and dying. Charging past both the sword-wielding boys, Selphie sprang into the air, flinging out one end of her nunchaku, and striking a flying heartless before it even knew what hit it. Landing, she swung around, bashing the solid end of her sticks on a chain into the face of a heartless that popped up next to her, then took out the one on her other side.

Taking off again, Sora leapfrogged past Selphie to charge a group of three armored Heartless, taking care of them in several fast strikes. They were very near the Heartless infested Galbadia Garden, and Sora only realized just _how_ close when it reached down and made a grab for him.

"Sora!" Zack shouted, "Jump!"

Not understanding what the man had meant, Sora paused a moment to look behind him – only to have the Heartless succeed in grabbing him. Pinned amongst a giant handful of sod and dirt, Sora could do little but watch as the ground fell away, leaving his friends to fight the Heartless's other hand, that had come down to smash the annoying pests that had invaded the lawn.

Shouting a curse, Irvine lifted his gun, firing off several shots at the hand that had taken Sora, only to be forced to dodge as the Heartless's other giant hand slapped at him. Rolling away, Irvine avoided getting crushed, then got to his feet again and ran as he reloaded, aiming his riffle on the move. However, it was too late, the hand that held Sora captive had retreated into the Garden, giving Irvine no target but the one that was now flicking Selphie back towards the trees they had come from.

Zack, darting swiftly across the lawn, slipped under the Heartless's wrist and slashed, cutting the underside in a long diagonal mark. Wounded, the Heartless lifted its hand briefly, black ooze dripping out of the wound and turning to smoke before it reached the ground. Several of the Heartless-building's eyes turned towards them, focusing more attention on the battle at its hand.

Choosing Zack as its next target, the hand moved to flatten him into the lawn, but the dark-haired man dodged with several back flips before springing back, landing on the back of the creature's hand. There, he slammed his blade into the wrist again, digging it as deep as he could before prying loose and running as the Heartless began flipping its hand back and forth. Irvine, taking aim, shot the Heartless's elbow, an easier target than the swiftly moving hand.

His shot was followed by a blast of fire from Lulu as she followed his example. Now the whole arm was flailing in pain and the Heartless-building turned to bring down another hand to engage the group with. This hand went for Lulu, but was blocked by a solid slap from Tidus as he leapt up, slashing at the reaching appendage, cutting it across the palm.

The original hand, recovered slightly from the wounds, slapped Tidus across the lawn, only to catch another blast of fire on its wounded wrist. Zack ducked under the sweep across the lawn that the second hand made, rolling quickly to his feet and leaping up as the hand came back. Landing deftly on the hand, he stabbed his blade into the back, then sprang away, "Lulu! Lightning!" he shouted.

The black mage's answer was to lift her hand delicately, her puppet backpack mirroring her movements as she threw the spell towards the sword stuck in the Heartless's second hand. With a boom and crackle, the arm exploded into fire and in the creature's wild gesticulations, Zack's sword came loose. Leaping up, he deftly caught it by the hilt and dashed away as the Heartless came after him with its first hand.

Winding up, Wakka's blitzball shot out and hit the back of the Heartless's hand with a resounding smack that knocked it off course. Before it could go after him, though, Selphie was there, her nunchaku delivering a blow that made decidedly sick-cracking noise. Flipping away quickly to avoid the Heartless's rage at having its hand broken, Selphie ducked and ran for cover. Taking aim at the elbow again, Irvine managed to get several shots off before the Heartless, fingers curling uselessly, began to beat the ground wildly, aiming for anyone it could reach.

Scattering, the group of would-be heroes were forced to abandon any attempt to attack. Finally tiring, the Heartless-building withdrew its hand slightly, as if retreating. Irvine stepped out of cover, taking aim with his riffle, firing a shot through the Heartless's elbow that finally was the last straw and the limb crashed to the ground, dead and useless. Withdrawing it from the battle, the building turned slightly, bringing out two new hands to begin the fight again, leaving only two more to defend it from any further attacks.

* * *

Having not really expected to get grabbed like that, Sora struggled as best he could in the Heartless's grip. However, the hand was larger than he was and his struggles were in vain.

Abruptly, though, the hand dropped him, and Sora toppled to the floor, landing on his back – Keyblade barely missing his head as it fell to the floor beside him.

Swinging his legs up, then down, Sora got to his feet, calling his blade to his hand instead of wasting time to pick it up.

Then finally, he paused to look around, finding himself in the redecorated remains of Galbadia's ballroom. The walls were now the black flesh of a Heartless, the windows to his left had been broken out. There was a pit in the center of the floor in which spikes poked upwards from a slick of glowing green liquid. A waft of sulfuric smell made him gag. At the front of the room where the band should have been, there was a stage with a throne of bones set upon it.

And in that chair sat a small man dressed in bright crimson, a frilly lace collar surrounding his white-painted face.

"You!" Sora shouted, pointing his Keyblade at the man, "You're Kefka?"

The man's red-painted lips curled into a bright smile as he stood, holding his right hand aloft.

"Emperor Kefka – Ruler of the Universe!" Kefka corrected in a nasal and high pitched voice. Sora stepped forward, grasping his blade in both hands, "Ah-uh!" he waggled a finger, "Don't come any closer – unless you want to see your mommy-dearest die! Keeheheehehee!"

Gasping, Sora looked up, following the line of Kefka's finger as the insane clown-man pointed. Above the pit of acid and spikes, hanging by a rope from the ceiling was Ellone, her head hanging limp. "Mom!" Sora gasped, "Mom! Wake up!"

Slowly, she stirred, lifting her head, "S-sora..." she murmured as she recognized him.

"You – let her go!" Sora demanded, "I'll kill you!"

"Ohhh but you see that rope," Kefka giggled, "It's tied to this dead man's switch I have right here in my hand. As soon as I let go of this button, she falls!"

Leering at Sora from across the room, Kefka concluded, "So now you're in a quandary! Make a choice! Kill me and watch your dear mother die, or try to save her and watch me kill you!"

Sora stared at the insane man dressed in bright colors, "You're ..." and Sora really didn't have the vocabulary to really describe the man. Riku probably would have inserted 'a bastard,' but Riku wasn't here. Sora's fingers twisted on the handle of his Keyblade and he shifted from one foot to the other.

"Too late!" Kefka announced and snapped the fingers of his other hand. Portals opened around the room, disgorging Heartless into the room.

"Bugger," Sora snapped and dodged as the first Heartless attacked. Smashing its head with his blade, Sora watched as two more Heartless appeared to take its place – the portals had not closed.

Realizing quickly that this was a hopeless fight, Sora looked up at his mother. _'Do what I can,'_ he decided. Kefka had taken his seat on his throne again and Sora focused his attention on the clown and sprang into action.

Bodily bashing his way through the mob of Heartless between himself and Kefka, Sora leapt for the throne.

Startled, Kefka ducked and rolled aside – the remote he'd been holding flying from his hand in that move. Ellone shrieked as she began falling towards the spikes, acid, and Heartless.

Grinning at the clown, Sora used the Heartless between him and his mother as a springboard.

Leaping deftly over the spikes, Sora sent his Keyblade away in order to use both hands to catch his mother.

With a grunt, he landed in a crouch on the ground near the balcony and broke into a run. Swiftly, he dashed through the broken glass doors and leapt the balustrade.

"_SORA_!!" Ellone howled in his ear in helpless terror.

* * *

_'I don't want to wake up...'_ Kaiyou sighed as she realized that it was too late. It had taken far too long for her to fall asleep in the first place. Then, she'd had that odd dream about Riku.

Curling into a ball in the overly large bed, Kaiyou squeezed her eyes closed tighter, feeling cold despite the warmth of the blankets. _'Riku... Am I really that infatuated with him?'_ she had to ask herself.

A tap on her door startled her and sitting up, she looked towards the door. "Lady Aros," a voice from outside called. It sounded like one of Seymour's servants. "Maester Seymour requests your presence."

Opening her mouth, she hesitated before replying, "Hold on." Shoving the blankets aside, she put her feet on the cold tile floor. Looking around, she located her clothes on the chair beside the bed where she'd left them. It was a good thing that they didn't stain or smell or anything, otherwise, by now, they'd have been stiff enough to stand on their own. Unfortunately, that property didn't extend to her body, but at least she'd been lucky enough to find places to take a bath fairly often.

After regarding her shirt for a moment in thought, she pulled it on and buttoned it, following that with the rest of her clothes. Lastly pulling on her shoes, she stomped them into place, then headed for the door, opening it carefully, finding that Seymour's servant was indeed standing in the hall, politely waiting. He didn't smile at her, just bowed slightly and turned, heading off down the hall of the opulent house. Rubbing her shoulders in nervously, she followed, glancing up and down the hall, knowing that the others were in rooms on this hall, but not knowing which doors. She'd avoided them since her outburst on the ship. Not that she really wanted their company... but they were better than being by herself, waiting for Seymour to get around to asking her to make a decision on who's side she was going to be on.

It looked... like now was the time.

She was scared.

_'What is he going to show me? How does he think it's going to convince me?'_

The Guado man, whose name she couldn't remember, led her to the main hall of Seymour's house where Seymour himself was waiting. He smiled at her, giving a slight bow.

"Lady Aros," he greeted. She was sure he knew what her real name was, but he was taking great pains to be courteous. It was... almost flattering.

Almost.

If it hadn't already been just too creepy.

"Please, follow me," Seymour said, turning towards the front door of his house. "First, I suppose I should tell you a bit about how life and death work." Pausing, he reached out to place his long-fingered hand on her shoulder, pulling her in closer, trapping her next to him as he walked casually. "You see, life... is a circle. When someone dies, their life energy leaves their bodies. When it leaves violently, though, that energy does not always go where it should. Summoners, such as myself, must send their spirits on to a place called the Farplane." He guided her out the door as he spoke.

"Life is a curse, Lady Aros, full of pain and suffering, heartache and loneliness," Seymour continued. "You of all people should understand how painful life is. Which is why I wish to give the universe the greatest gift of all..." he looked down at her with his pretty blue eyes, "Peace," he finished with a slight smile. "I wish to end all suffering, eternally."

He took a turn, leading her up an incline to an arch that went over the road they'd taken to get to his house where a strange shimmering portal was erected at the top of a set of stairs.

Kaiyou hesitated, pulling free of Seymour's grip. Looking down at her with a kindly expression, Seymour soothed, "Don't worry. The living can enter and leave with no ill effects. Please, come..."

Again, he took her shoulder, this time in a sharper grip, pushing her along.

_'No choice... no choice...'_

Reaching the portal, Seymour slipped his hand in carefully – it faded and flickered. "As you see... I cannot enter," he smiled at her, "For I am already dead. You... however..."

Kaiyou stared at him silently, quite disturbed by this revelation.

"You might see people you know," Seymour concluded, "but do not be afraid. They are dead and at peace. Once you've seen all you care to, please come to my office." With that, he stepped back.

_'No ...choice?'_ she had to question. _'Is he or isn't he offering me a choice... I can't tell anymore!'_

Looking towards the portal, she stared hard at it, then turned to look at him.

"I'll... come to your office when I've made a decision," she stated flatly, "Not before."

He smiled, "That is all I can ask of you."

Turning away from him, she reached out, slipping her hand through the shimmering surface. Her hand remained solid. _'At least my being only half a person doesn't effect this thing... I guess if Umi tried to enter, she wouldn't be able to.'_

Swallowing and taking her courage in both hands, Kaiyou stepped through, fairly sure she was going to get axed on the other side.

There was no physical sensation as she passed the boarder. She'd almost expected one. Instead, she found herself in a whole other reality it seemed. Looking back, she could still see the portal and a faint haze of Seymour on the other side, but the portal stood in empty space. Beyond was a haze of pastel clouds.

She was standing on a floating platform of rock, like an observation deck and beyond were waterfalls falling endlessly down and down. Far below was a plateau covered in flowers of every imaginable color, echoing the rainbows that reflected off the falls. There was no direct sunlight, just a general hue of twilight and a warm breeze ruffled her hair, smelling like the flowers. She was alone here.

And hanging in the air were balls of light, flickering, floating, fading, and flaring into light again.

Tears stung her eyes.

"It's...beautiful," she admitted, stepping further in.

She stepped closer to the edge, looking down over the side and into the plane of flowers below.

"Souls go here?" she asked aloud, thinking back to the people she'd once loved, then gasped as she looked up and into a pair of eyes she'd never thought she'd see again.

"Rick," she whispered, her tears slipping free of her grasp.

He was there, standing in the air on the other side of the observation deck – she couldn't deny that it was him. Every detail was perfect, from his eyes, to the way his mouth curved in that smile he'd always had for her. Even his hair was as messy as ever.

"Rick..." Kaiyou whispered, leaning forward to try and touch him.

But he was too far away.

And he didn't move.

He just stood there, smiling at her.

"You're not really here..." she realized. "You're just an image. Reflected from me..."

As she realized that, his form wavered and disappeared, the balls of soul-light flying off in every direction.

Staring ahead, she swallowed as she thought.

"Yes, it's a pretty place... but... I would be nothing more than I am now should I go here."

_'But what are the odds of anyone who actually wants to see me showing up?'_ she asked herself.

* * *

Hayner couldn't believe it.

Why was Seymour paying so much attention to that girl? He didn't like it. And after pacing back and forth in his room for a while, he'd finally decided to go ask her himself. However, even as he opened his door a crack, he found her being led off by one of Seymour's servants. Puffing his cheeks in thought, he stayed back, then slipped out silently, sneaking after the pair as they walked in silence.

In the front hall, he was forced to take cover as the servant turned away after delivering Aros to Seymour. Unfortunately, the only place was a curtain that hung beside the hall he'd just come from.

Holding his breath as the Guado man passed, Hayner waited a moment before peeking out of his cover.

Seymour was talking to Aros, but he couldn't quite hear what was being said. Together, they headed out the front door, Seymour's hand on her shoulder, as if they were friends, or in a conspiracy together. Creeping from his hiding place once they'd gone out the door, Hayner dashed to it and carefully opened the door again, thankful that they were kept well oiled.

Outside, Seymour was leading Aros up a path towards a strange glowing doorway well above the rest of the Guado's city. Hayner carefully stepped out.

_'What am I doing?'_ he had to ask himself. _'It's not like I like her or anything... she lied.'_ Biting his lower lip, he looked down at his shoes even as he had to admit_ '...but she's Sora's sister... Maybe anyway, Sora at least cares for her. I have enough respect for him to...to at least give her another chance. I mean, she didn't really have the chance to tell us she wasn't really a guy. And she did manage to get us to a place where we could be rescued.'_

Looking up again, Hayner followed the pair with his eyes, "I need to talk to her," he decided. "I need to find out what Seymour wants with her."

With that, he nodded, then looked up again to find that Kaiyou had entered the strange portal alone and Seymour was coming back. Looking around quickly, he dove for cover and remained hidden until Seymour had passed.

Waiting for the door to close, Hayner finally slipped out of his cover and looked up at the path. "I guess... now's as good a time as any."

Taking a breath and setting his shoulders, Hayner headed up the path and paused at the portal, testing it with his hand before finally stepping through – into paradise...

Gasping softly, he looked around, eyes wide. "What... is this place?"

She was standing at the other side of the observation deck, leaning against the rail on her elbows, staring out across the fog and flowers, but she did turn to look back at him.

"...should have known," she sighed and straightened.

Hayner swallowed, pulling himself together. "I wanted to talk to you," he stated, keeping to business as he walked closer to her.

For a moment, she didn't say anything, just stared out at the beautiful scenery. Her eyes weren't distant, though. She seemed to be looking quite closely at something he couldn't see. "About what?" she asked finally.

"...what ...why is Maester Seymour so interested in you?" Hayner asked.

"Because I'm a tool," she replied flatly.

Startled, he stared at her.

"He wants me to agree to let him use me... in return... I get to go here," Aros continued, "What's a little more pain when given proof that I get to go somewhere really nice afterwards?"

"What... is this place?" Hayner asked, nearly voiceless. He could barely believe what he was hearing.

Aros didn't look at him still, but replied, "The Farplane. It's where the dead go." She gestured outwards, "Just think of someone you know is dead... probably not anyone who died in the attack. They'll not be here."

"What do you mean?" Hayner asked.

"Anyone who died violently and who wouldn't have moved on afterwards won't be here," Aros restated. "Not unless they accepted what happened on their own and moved on."

Silence fell as Hayner stared at her, then turned, looking out at the colored balls of light. From them formed someone he'd never thought he'd see again. His grandma – a woman he'd dearly loved but had died of age – stood in the air a bit beyond the guard rail. "D-Do you... see that?" he asked.

Aros looked over briefly, "Yeah," she replied, "It's just a reflection, though."

His elation faded quickly at the sorrowful tone of her voice and he looked carefully at the image. Yes... his grandmother was exactly as he remembered her. But beyond that, she was not breathing, she did not move... her image flickered and faded in and out.

Turning to look at Aros, Hayner said, "Seymour said he'd send you here... why? I don't understand."

"I'm... a thing," Aros replied. "Everyone else is a real person, but I'm not. I'm only half a person, even now. Kosuiko... was my body. Umi, my soul, is missing, and I'm only bits and pieces of memories strung together." Aros shifted her weight and took a slow, shaking breath. "I used to be someone whole, and ...at the rate I'm going, I'll be whole again, but... I'll be most useful when I'm whole. Right now, I'm just a shade," she snorted, "Not even that. You've got to have substance to have a shadow. I'm clear."

Hayner shook his head, "You're not making any sense..."

"No, I don't suppose I would," Aros replied. "But I suppose everything really is my fault. If they weren't all fighting over me... if I'd had the sense to die long before this... then Twilight Town... And a whole bunch of other people wouldn't be... So I guess, it's my duty to take myself out of the picture. That's the only way I can really do the right thing. All else I've tried has ended in disaster. I'm just... trouble."

She stopped speaking finally - which was good, considering that Hayner had heard enough. Grabbing her shoulder, he turned her to face him, then, open handed, slapped her face.

Staggering back from the force of his blow, she stared at him.

"That's enough," Hayner snapped. "Alright – so you messed up! But that's no reason to kill yourself!"

Aros stared at him, still silent, forcing Hayner to continue, his anger mounting at her blank stare, "What happened in Twilight Town wasn't your fault. I don't see how it could have been. They attacked and... you were the one who came to help us. You did try, and I guess if it wasn't because of you, Seymour wouldn't have noticed us." Taking a breath and clenching his fists at his side, Hayner continued, "And you may have lied, but then again, we never gave you the chance to tell the truth. And I'd be wrong to not give you that chance... if only for Sora."

"Just for Sora," Aros sighed. "How can someone so simple complicate things so much?"

"I don't know... but he's pretty good at it," Hayner admitted, unsure if he'd really gotten through to her.

"Seymour wants an answer," she said, "he's not going to let us go until I answer."

"What's he want you to do, anyway?"

"Amplify his powers so he can do something black hearted and generally nasty to a lot of people."

Aros waited a moment, then sighed, "I knew you wouldn't believe me even if I told you," she stated when he didn't answer immediately.

"Seymour saved us," Hayner pointed out.

"You're a little naive," Aros replied, "Just because someone is nice once doesn't always mean they've got good intentions." Shaking her head, she replied, "I'm going to go talk to him now. You should get back to the others... or something." Turning away, she headed towards the portal and was gone before he could think of anything to say to her accusation.

* * *

Roxas was pissed.

Riku, while having not been very observant lately, could tell that Roxas was pissed... and it was a very scary thing. It really wasn't the type of expression Riku had ever expected to see on a face that looked so much like Sora's. But, there it was. Roxas was downright furious. He wasn't speaking, he was moving in jerky, stiff motions, and there was almost an aura of anger around him that just radiated the feeling that if anyone said anything to him, there would be death and destruction.

Sitting uncomfortably in the co-pilot's seat, Riku tried to not irritate Roxas further. He had enough to deal with at the moment without having Roxas angry at him too. Even after his short rest in one of the rooms, he still felt unbalanced.

It almost reminded him of when he had first met Roxas, back on the World that Never Was, when Roxas had just been a regular Nobody. The big difference, though, was that back then, Roxas had been pretending at anger. Sure, he'd pulled it off fairly well – being rude, crude, loud, and a general jerk, but now... This was the real thing and Riku was fairly sure Roxas didn't know how to deal with it.

'_Let him stew for a bit... maybe later someone will be able to talk to him. I don't think I should be that person, though.'_

Admittedly, Riku was a bit angry too. Maleficent and Gary had killed off an entire population. That was despicable in and of itself, but the fact that Kaiyou was now captured by one of the Princes of Darkness...

At least, after having gotten close to Gary, Riku knew that it wasn't Gary who had gotten her. As far as Riku knew, Gary was the only one with a personal grudge against Kaiyou, so if she could hold out long enough for someone else to find her – preferably Riku – then everything would be fine. Or so he kept telling himself.

Riku wanted to pace, but doing so might have set Roxas off. So he sat still and occasionally glanced at Roxas to make sure he wasn't going to flip out and kill everyone with a dull spoon or something.

That was when he caught Laguna's expression.

Now that was something unexpected.

That same black brooding Roxas was emitting was reflected on Laguna's face.

It took Riku a few moments to figure that one out.

'_Probably angry for the same reason I'm angry.'_

Taking a breath and letting it out silently, Riku turned his attention forward again.

Their ship had survived the flight in to Twilight Town and the oceanic crash. It had also survived sitting in the water for the day it had taken them to hunt around for survivors and clear out the remaining Heartless, and now, it was mostly better. There were still some red-lit areas.

Thus, Roxas was cautiously lifting them out of the remains of Maleficent's thorns and out of the ocean. It had occurred to Riku that maybe Roxas might not be the best person to be piloting at the moment, but then again, arguing with him over it wasn't a good idea either.

Outside the front window, the water brightened, then, they surfaced. For a moment, Roxas paused, then lifted out of the water further when nothing attacked them. Turning their ship, he aimed the nose upwards and pushed the throttle, shooting them towards the door that would take them to Disney Castel.

Thankfully, with Maleficent's death, the Heartless blockading Twilight Town had moved on, leaving the way clear.

'_One good thing about all that... is that I doubt Maleficent is coming back. Not after getting her power absorbed by Gary,'_ Riku mused darkly. _'I'm not thanking him for it, though. Next time I see him, he's getting a Keyblade through the throat.'_

Breaking back into realspace on the other side of the door, it was nice to see Disney Castle was still in one piece.

The front screen above the window lit up, Chip and Dale appearing, _"Back so soon?"_ they said, bouncing up and down excitedly, _"Did you find her?"_

"No," Roxas said, then fell silent as he headed the ship towards the gummi ship dock.

Riku took a breath and continued to explain, "Twilight Town was sacked and burned by Maleficent. We'll make a full report when we get in."

Silence met his statement, but finally Dale, or maybe it was Chip, said, _"Right..."_ Both the chipmunks looked thoroughly depressed now.

At least by then, Roxas had the ship docked and together, they headed out, walking through the gardens and towards the library. Glancing up, Riku spotted Vincent standing on the balcony, watching him. Avoiding the man's eyes, Riku pretended to have not seen him – and continued to pretend he wasn't there as he walked past his father and into Mickey's library.

* * *

"Hayner!"

Blinking, Hayner lifted his head and looked over towards Olette as she stood at the door of her room. She gestured at him to come, and after glancing around the hall, he headed over. "What?" he asked.

Grabbing his arm, she pulled him in and shut the door behind him.

Looking around, he found everyone else in her room as well.

"Where were you?" Seifer demanded, then flicked his hand, "Never mind. We're getting out of here tonight."

Staring at him, Hayner replied, "Wh-why?"

"This Seymour guy... I don't trust him," Seifer replied. "We're leaving."

"What about Aros?" Hayner asked.

"Who cares?" Seifer snapped and started forward, heading past Hayner and out the door. Rai, Fuu, and Vivi followed after without hesitation. "We need to get out of here."

Leaving was remarkably easy – about as easy as getting back in had been for Hayner. It bothered him slightly. _'After all... if Seymour is really a bad person, wouldn't he try to stop us?'_

They were halfway down the road, heading on through the city instead of going back the way they'd come, by the time anyone dared say anything, and it was Olette who asked, "Where do we go from here, though?"

"Does it matter?" Seifer asked, striding at the front of the group. Vivi had dropped to the back and kept looking over his shoulder. Hayner couldn't tell if he was nervous or upset at leaving Aros behind. Hayner didn't blame him though. He wasn't too comfortable about ditching Aros.

He looked back over his shoulder one last time – just in time to see Seymour's house doors blow open. Something flew out and hit the ground rolling.

Blinking, he finally recognized Aros as she got her feet under her and was off running. Apparently, she'd spotted them, since she was heading straight towards them.

_'Man...she sure can run...'_ he mused.

"Run for it!" Aros called at them, "He's really mad and gonna kill us now!" Without stopping, she shot right past Vivi, who turned and started after her as fast as he could. She even went right past Seifer.

"Was wondering when you'd get done with him," Seifer sneered and broke into a run as well.

"Sorry – I tried to stall!" Aros replied.

"What? I don't get it!" Pence asked as he started off into as much of a jog as he could handle.

"We'll talk when we get out of town!" Aros stated. "For now, run!"

* * *

Next chapter: Sora, Roxas, Riku, and even Vincent - starring in OFFICE SPACE WARS!


	75. Reunions

_Chapter 75_

_(Reunions)_

Crashing through the trees and landing hard, Sora rolled to take the impact, keeping his mother tucked against his chest to protect her. Immediately, he was on his feet again and running back towards Zack and the others, even as they continued to fight three of the building's hands.

Zack, upon spotting Sora shouted something to the others, but the result was obvious when Selphie, Tidus, and Zack started retreating. Lulu, Irvine, and Wakka, being distance fighters, covered their mad dash to the trees at the edge of the Heartless-building's reach. Sora, running as hard and fast as he could, followed.

A shadow loomed over him as the building made one last attempt to catch him. Sora pushed harder, trying to outrun the hand, and broke into the patch of trees the rest of his group had run into just as the hand slammed into the ground behind him, digging trenches in the earth with its fingers.

Gasping and staggering to a stop, Sora collapsed to his knees and set his mother down in front of him as he gulped for air.

"Sora!" Ellone gasped, "That was highly irresponsible of you! You could have gotten killed!"

Not having the breath to argue with her, Sora shook his head as Zack stepped over and used a knife he had stored in his boot to cut the rope that still held Ellone.

"Saving me was SeeD's job!" she finished, looking towards Zack, then past him to Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, and Lulu... Finally, her eyes settled on Irvine.

"SeeD's here, Ma'am," Irvine said, tipping his hat. "We just got a little assistance from some uh... unlikely sources."

At last able to breathe, Sora lifted his head and grinned, "I was fine, Mom. Being a Hero's in my blood anyway, right?" She stared at him as he sobered, "Mom – you've got to take that memory thing off me! It's really getting in the way."

"What?" Ellone asked as she pulled the ropes off with Zack's help. "How – how did you..."

"A lot of stuff has happened," Sora replied and shook his head again, "I met her – my sister. She's alive still. And so is Dad. And Squall. They're all alright, but I need to be able to think straight if we're going to _stay_ alright!"

For a very long moment, Ellone continued to stare at him, "Your...sister? She's alive?" Sora nodded.

"But in danger. There's a war being fought over her right now. And don't tell me to go sit at home! I'm involved whether you like it or not." He gave her a stern look that ended up looking more like a stubborn pout, and Ellone burst out laughing. Her laughter quickly turned hysterical, and she covered her face with her hands.

Startled, Sora stared at her, unsure of what to do at first, then put his arms around her. Turning, Ellone hugged him tightly, "I'll do what I can, but it's been there for so long, I don't know..." Lifting her eyes, she stared at his face, "I return – you get your father and sister back home!"

Sora nodded. "I intended to!"

"You seem to have forgotten," Zack pointed out, "That the ship we came in on got trashed."

"Oh... yeah." Sora admitted as he thought on that for a moment.

"I have a ship," Ellone replied. "I started funding the space program more after that incident a few years ago."

"Hate to cut things short," Irvine interrupted, "But this isn't exactly the safest place to sit and chat."

Hopping to his feet immediately, Sora offered his hand down to help his mother up, "Right! Let's scram!"

Together, they hurried back towards the line the other SeeDs under Irvine's command were holding. Upon their arrival, a young man dashed up and saluted Irvine and Ellone. "We've set up a new headquarters, sir, Madam President," he said, then led the way.

The new headquarters was in the area that Sora and his group had reclaimed from the Heartless. It was an old office building, all the communications equipment was set up on the top floor of the three-story building. The building itself was mostly intact with only some drywall cracked and a ceiling tile fallen out. The elevators didn't work either, but there weren't that many stairs. Once on the top floor, Ellone was handed some reports on what had happened while she was being held hostage. However, she didn't immediately look at them.

"I want that ship put in order for takeoff," Ellone ordered, then looked towards Sora, "We need help here," she admitted, "Is there anyone you might be able to convince to come help us?"

Sora nodded, "Of course! King Mickey's my friend. He'll send someone!"

"Alright, I'll lift the block on your memories, but I don't know how much will come back on its own," Ellone said and placed her hands on his head, petting his hair briefly.

For a moment, Sora suspected that nothing was happening, for all he felt was his mother's hands on his head. That suspicion was quickly killed when he felt a force building somewhere within his mind – a second later, it washed over him like a tsunami that crashed through everything he had done recently and scattered it.

He stood there, staring dumbfounded at the aftermath and wondered how he was going to figure anything out now. His worry was unfounded, thankfully, for things began re-sorting themselves in his mind and he suspected they were having help.

In all, the process took only a few moments, but Sora felt like he had been standing there for an hour when his mother finally lifted her hands, "Well," she said, "That was certainly interesting... Half of what I did was missing. But it's good to know that your sister is on her way to being whole."

"Huh?" Sora asked, then blinked, "Oh, yeah... er... Roxas probably has it," he admitted. "So, you went through everything that's happened so far, huh?" Ellone nodded. Scratching the back of his head, Sora grinned, "alright. Not like I did anything you would be upset at me about."

"Other than running off without telling anyone where you were going," Ellone replied, then kissed his cheek. "I did what I could for your memories, but my original block is half broken and partly not there at all. I did what I could, though. Go get help now. Irvine, escort him to the shuttle."

Irvine saluted, "Yes Ma'am."

"Zack – will you protect mom? I'll be fine. I know where I'm going from here," Sora said to the black haired man.

Smirking, Zack flashed a salute, "Sure thing."

Turning to dash after Irvine, Sora caught up with the man in cowboy boots and followed.

* * *

Vincent narrowed his eyes as he stared up at the sky, then looked down at the garden below where Mickey and Minnie were having afternoon tea. It seemed a strange thing to do when there was galactic war going on, but he supposed that they needed to rest every now and then.

He had to repeatedly remind himself that he was _not_ guarding them.

He was not their employee.

'_I have another job now. I am no longer a Turk. I am no longer a killer.'_

His life, as he figured it, had occurred in three parts.

The first being his days as a Turk... That had ended when Hojo had shot him and Lucrecia had saved him by putting Chaos and the Proto Materia into him.

The second had been when Cloud had awoken him from his sleep in the Shinra Mansion basement... That part had ended with the destruction of Sephiroth – or supposed destruction... Sephiroth's reappearance, and the fight with Kadaj and his two brothers.

The third had begun with his awakening on a strange beach after a twisted nightmare. For twenty years, Vincent had believed that the previous two phases of his life had been dreams – that he had been in an accident of some kind and lost an arm and just _thought_ that he was trained as an all-around killer.

But then again, he had wanted to believe that.

'_Akina...'_

She had been the one to find him on that beach. She had nursed him back to health. She had tried to help him find his past, all in vain. There was no past in Esthar to be found. Nor in any other part of this world, for this was not where he had been born. She had chosen to believe he was an amnesiac too, because while it was a nice story, what she wanted was someone who would just _be_ there... and not bring anything dangerous home.

'_Never mind the monster she slept with every night.'_

Bronze claws clenching on the gutter he was perched upon, over a balcony that looked over the gardens.

On the other hand, Vincent couldn't blame Akina for what she had wanted. It was a nice dream. Holding Riku for the first time was enough to convince him that his previous two lives as a killer and a monster had been mere delusions. Riku and Akina had been the only things that were real.

Then Akina had died.

Then Riku had gotten older, and Vincent had come to realize, without a doubt, that _he_ had been Sephiroth's father. And now Riku carried that curse.

Riku had acted on that curse.

And only after speaking with Aerith, had Vincent realized that Riku had been doubly cursed from the beginning.

'_Now Riku hates me for trying to save him... and redeem myself. I can't blame him. I hate myself too.'_

Closing his eyes briefly, he was startled back into awareness of his surroundings when an alarm went off. Looking down, he spotted Mickey dashing for the stairs, Minnie scuttling afterwards. Shifting his weight, Vincent swung down and landed on the balustrade beneath him. Hopping off, he headed down the stairs to find where the king had gone and to find out what was going on.

He met Squall in the hall.

"Strange ship coming in," Squall said without prompting. Vincent nodded silently.

Reaching Mickey's library, they stepped in to find that they were the last to arrive. Yuna waving her hands in the air and bouncing around the room and Rikku was twirling around her ex-Summoner, cheering. Paine actually looked like she may have been smiling while Donald was being swung around by Goofy.

"What's going on?" Squall asked. The hair on the back of Vincent's neck crawled.

Before anyone could answer, a familiar, cheerful voice chirped from directly behind him. "Howdy brother!" Squall jumped and turned around to face Sora as the young man grinned broadly.

Dashing past Vincent and Squall, Goofy ran to hug Sora, squashing him tightly in his joy to see the boy. "Gawrsh Sora! You're alright! We were so worried about cha!"

Vincent stepped back and to the side, his eyes scanning Sora. _'He should not have been able to sneak up on me... Oh no.'_

"Who did that to you?" Vincent asked without preamble or explanation.

Sora blinked his phosphorescent blue eyes, "What?" In return, he was hugging Goofy, oblivious to the fact that he was rather hard to take seriously when in such a position.

"SOLDIER," Vincent sighed and shook his head, "No, I know who did that to you."

Completely confused, Sora shook his head, then paused, peering at Vincent, "Oh – you mean my eyes! Yeah. Some guy named Hojo, but I'm alright!" Finally stepping back from Goofy, he clasped a fist and interrupted himself, "but that's not why I'm here!"

"Aros isn't here," Mickey said.

"Oh, I knew that." Sora blinked, "No – that still wasn't why I was here! My world is in danger! A crazy clown has taken over the capital and took my mom hostage – we saved her, but we need to get rid of the clown before the Heartless destroy everything!"

Vincent looked towards Squall even as Yuna pumped a fist into the air and hopped, "We'll help! You can count on the Gullwings!" Of course, that would include Khimari, since Yuna couldn't seem to get rid of the large blue creature.

Squall was staring off to the side and softly he sighed, "Fine."

"What?" Sora blinked, having heard but not understood.

"Fine, I'll come."

Breaking into a broad grin, Sora threw his hands into the air in a childish cheer. "Yeah! This is gonna be so awesome!"

Taking a breath, Squall looked like he was about to say something, then sighed and shook his head, "whatever," he muttered, fingering his scar.

"I will come as well," Vincent stated, then glanced towards Mickey.

"Is there enough room on your ship?" the king asked from where he was standing in front of his desk.

Sora nodded, "Of course! It was based off the propulsion systems from the Gardens. It's pretty big! But it doesn't have any guns. I need to tell mom it needs guns."

"Gawrsh, Sora..." Goofy said, "Sounds complicated."

"Hey! I got it here without crashing it," Sora admitted, "Though... manning all the stations by myself was a bit difficult." He scratched the back of his head, "Should be easier this time, though!"

Turning to look over his shoulder, the strange dog-like man gazed questioningly at his king, and after a moment, Mickey sighed and nodded. "If that's the case, then I'll come too. The Cornerstone of Light should prevent anything from happening to the castle."

Donald, feathers flying, threw an incoherent fit. He was ignored by most, though, and settled down when Yuna danced over to grab him in a hug. "We're doing something useful!" Yuna told him, "We're getting rid of the Princes of Darkness, and after they're gone, then we'll be that much closer to putting everything back the way it's supposed to be!"

"Aww," Donald huffed, "But hish mageshty should shtay here! It'sh too dangeroush!"

Sora burst out laughing, "After everything he's done, you still say that?"

"Sora!"

Startled by the new voice, Sora turned just in time to get Riku's arm wrapped around his head. "You idiot! Where the hell have you been?" he demanded as he noogied his friend. Desperate to escape, Sora backed in circles, trying to pull his head free from Riku's mistreatment and only succeeded when Riku finally let him go. "Just like you to run off playing the hero and freak everyone out."

"You're one to talk!" Sora retorted, but he was grinning. Only to be tackled by Laguna as his father wanted a turn at glomping him.

Roxas, slower to approach finally stated, "Twilight Town has been destroyed by Maleficent. No survivors as far as we can tell. Aros was there, but she left with a Prince of Darkness. Not Gary, thankfully. He killed Maleficent, though."

A collective gasp went around the room at Roxas's bad news.

Sora, pushing Laguna off, stepped over to his Nobody and put his hands on the blonde-version's shoulders. "I'm sorry," he said. "But, on the bright side, we don't have to fight Maleficent again, right?" Roxas did not look consoled.

Shrugging Sora's hands off, Roxas replied, "It's just one more reason to kill Gary," he stated flatly. "First, let's go kill this stupid clown."

Riku nodded, "I'm not letting someone _else_ screw up my world. I can do that fine on my own."

Vincent inwardly flinched.

Sora laughed as if that were really a joke. "Alright, let's hurry then!" he announced and turned, dashing off towards the garden and ship dock.

* * *

Taking the stairs two at a time, Sora led the way into the new headquarters building of SeeD and shoved open the door a little more roughly than he had intended, startling everyone within. Irvine, by the window, turned and pulled a pistol at the sound. Ellone, seated at a desk, looked back, eyes wide. The two other people working in the room, random SeeD men as far as Sora could tell, had gotten to their feet and were about to attack, as was Selphie, who was between the door and his mother.

"What a mess," Squall muttered, stepping in behind Sora. "And I'm going to have to fix it, of course..."

"Well," Sora grinned, "Restoration work seems to be your specialty!" he pointed out.

"Squall!" Irvine gasped, lowering his gun. The other three SeeDs in the room dropped their guards as well even as Ellone got to her feet and rushed to Squall, throwing her arms around his shoulders. After a moment, he returned the embrace, "I'm so glad to see you."

Vincent stepped in, moving to a corner to watch the commotion that was about to come. Riku stepped in as well and headed towards the window on the other side of the room. On their way up, they had crossed paths with Tidus, Wakka and Lulu, which had resulted in the Gullwings breaking off for a tearful reunion with their ex-Summoner. Sora could still barely hear them down the hall; mostly Wakka exclaiming excitedly and Rikku's high pitched squeals of delight. Donald, Goofy, and Mickey stepped in and moved to the side of the door. Roxas had decided to merge with Sora once again, preferring to hide in the face of meeting their mother.

'_Too much going on right now,'_ Roxas insisted, _'Introducing me would only delay us.'_

"Yeah, it's been a while..." Squall was admitting as Sora turned his attention back towards what was going on.

Laguna laughed as he stepped in, "This is just one big family reunion, isn't it?" he asked jokingly and as one, the other SeeDs in the room snapped to attention.

"President Loire!" Irvine gasped again, "Today keeps getting better and better!" Sora was grinning from ear to ear.

Releasing Squall, Ellone rushed to her husband, throwing herself into his arms. Squall looked away as the pair exchanged a heated kiss and instead looked towards Irvine. "What's the situation?" he asked, getting straight to the point.

As the subject changed, Vincent moved closer to join the conversation. "Heartless attacked the capitol and some of the surrounding area, led by Kefka."

"The clown?" Squall asked, Irvine nodded.

"Yep. The man is dressed like a clown." Irvine shrugged a bit and continued, "With Sora and Zack's help, we drove back the Heartless to the capitol building where Kefka has Galbadia Garden infested with another Heartless, parked on top of the building. There're hostages inside the capitol building."

Vincent sighed.

"Where's Kai-" Ellone asked, drawing everyone's attention.

"Aros," Sora interrupted immediately, "She's gone and run off again. But, we'll find her. She's alright for now."

"And what about Kairi?" Ellone asked, looking a little crestfallen.

"Ran off with Aros," Sora replied.

Ellone frowned slightly as she shook her head, "Well, Kairi is a good girl... but... is it safe?"

Squall snorted, "Of course not, but that's probably why she did it anyway."

"Or," Riku snapped, "Maybe it's because you keep acting like she's nothing but a tool."

The SeeD and leader of the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee scowled at Riku, "As a leader," he stated, "I _have_ to think in those terms."

Sora scrubbed his head, "Enough!" he ordered, and blinked when he found that he had actually commanded silence. "We'll work it out when everything is settled. Okay?"

Riku was not pleased, but he left the subject, for the Gullwings, plus the rest of her entourage had re-entered. Behind them, Zack stepped in from wherever he had gotten off to.

"So is this everyone?" Zack asked, looking around the large crowd with a grin. "Looks like it'll be easy kicking that clown's ass!"

"Have to get past the Garden-Heartless first," Irvine pointed out.

"Alright, so we've already tried a frontal assault, that didn't work, but now that we've got more people, maybe we can distract it while a team gets inside?"

Selphie shook her head, "You're forgetting that Kefka has hostages. They're somewhere in the capitol building, and we need to free them before we make any kind of attack on him."

"Then," Vincent stated, speaking up for the first time, "Try something subtle."

Silence fell and everyone turned to look at him.

Now that he had everyone's attention, Vincent went on, "I suggest three teams to make a pincer attack while someone goes to free the hostages."

Squall folded his arms, "You volunteering?"

"I used to be a Turk," Vincent pointed out. Zack blinked, straightening as he looked Vincent over.

Irvine tipped his hat slightly, "Whatever that is..."

Turning to him, Zack explained, "The Turks are a small group of fighters that do just about anything. They act as bodyguards, security, recruitment, covert ops, PR, - they're like handymen, jacks of all trades."

"With a few other skills more on the illegal side," Vincent added, just to make things clear that he was up for the task of freeing a few hostages.

"Though you can't really say that legality was much of an issue when you worked for the guy who could make or break rules as he liked," Zack admitted, so long as they were being completely honest.

"Woah – you didn't do like... Assassinations, did you?" Selphie demanded.

Vincent declined to answer.

For those smart enough, the answer was quite obvious.

Sora blinked, "Huh?"

Riku stared at his father with a dark look.

Irvine blinked, then nodded, "Alright, I guess you can handle a few hostages."

"More like forty," Selphie put in, "Kefka's killed off fifteen by now."

Vincent nodded, "It is best we begin quickly."

"Alright," Squall stated, then looked towards Yuna, "You take them," he pointed at Rikku, Paine, Khimari, Wakka, Tidus, and Lulu. "Assuming you all can work together?" Yuna nodded firmly. "Sora, you take Donald, Goofy, the king, and Riku. You'll be heading after Kefka. The rest of us will head to the west side and make an attack on the front. Yuna, concentrate fire on the back."

"Right!" Yuna said and hopped, popping off what looked like a salute.

Turning, she faced her companions, "Ready?"

"Yeah!" Rikku cried, flittering up and down excitedly. Together, they dashed off down the stairs to hurry to their position.

Squall turned the other direction and headed out, Laguna, exchanging another kiss with Ellone, said, "Stay here, stay safe. We'll take care of this. Promise!" With that, he dashed off after his son. Zack, Irvine and Selphie followed him.

Vincent, without another word, turned and headed down the stairs to the ground floor where he made his way towards the partially destroyed office building that had been the government of Esthar.

Sora sighed softly, "Mom, there's someone else I want you to meet, but he's being a bit shy right now. Once we're through with Kefka, I'll introduce you to him."

Ellone nodded, kissing his forehead. "Be careful," she told him.

Riku snorted, "Sora, and the word 'careful' don't belong in the same sentence." With that, he headed down the stairs, Mickey was sniggering behind his hand as he tried not to be obvious about laughing and dashed after Riku. Goofy and Donald followed after.

Kissing his mother's cheek, Sora promised, "I'll come back in one piece! Or two, maybe," he grinned, as if this were a joke, but Ellone did not get it and he was out the door before she could say anything further.

* * *

As he moved from one piece of cover to the next, Vincent silently brooded.

What few friends he had made on this world were in there – in danger, and if not because of him, their continued endangerment was due to his fooling around out here. He stopped at the edge of the lawn that separated the street from the building and took a moment to observe the way the Heartless moved there. Old training was coming back with a vengeance – despite the fact that the Heartless here were more like mindless puppets, doing as they were told in hopes of being able to rampage freely.

Shaking his head, Vincent took a breath, then another and forced his mind back to the challenge at hand. He could not just make a mad rush across the lawn. He would be spotted and the game would be over – he would end up having to fight every last Heartless out there... which by his count there were thirty.

He needed a distraction.

An explosion from the back-side of the Heartless-Galbadia caught the attention of all the Heartless on the lawn. In an excited herd, they hopped into black portals and disappeared. "Hm," Vincent mused, "Too easy..."

Crouching, Vincent dashed across the lawn in a crimson and black blur, reaching the side door of the building where he used his palm print to open the door. Once inside, he ducked behind the security desk and quickly hacked into it to take a look at what was going on.

There were heartless roaming all the halls, but the hostages were being held in a cage in the cafeteria. Where that cage had come from, Vincent didn't know, but the people inside were trying their best to avoid touching the bars. The men had formed a protective circle around the women.

Satisfied with his findings, Vincent crept from the security station and made his way through the building.

The office was twelve stories tall, but the cafeteria was on the ground floor with doors to a patio in the central courtyard of the office. That door, however, was blocked by the Garden parked on the building. He would have to get them out through another exit. The idea of moving forty people by himself was not pleasant, but, Vincent supposed that he'd done worse.

'_Keeping track of Riku was probably good training for this.'_

Heading down the hall, Vincent ducked into a snack alcove while a Heartless moved past in the hall. Stepping out behind the creature, Vincent broke its neck silently, then moved on. That was the good thing about Heartless – they were too idiotic to work in coherent groups and they didn't leave bodies.

Swiftly, he moved on.

The problem with the building, Lauren had always said, was that every hall looked the same as every other hall. That was supposed to explain why she was ten minutes late to her desk every morning. Vincent had always thought that it was a sound practice. Any intruders who weren't already familiar with the layout of the building and knew what they were looking for would have been lost. Lauren, the woman in the cubicle next to Vincent's, just needed to use the same door in more than once a week and learn a route.

That wasn't to say that he thought she was stupid. In fact, he actually enjoyed her company at lunch; hers and Mike's. Where Lauren had a tendency to talk about her children and their antics – assuring Vincent that Riku's fits and tantrums when he was little were just a normal part of growing up – Mike's conversation topics were about military weapons and their uses. Mike liked tactics and war games. He even played paintball once a month with his sons. He had invited Vincent more than a few times. He had even said it was alright that Vincent only had one arm. They'd go easy on him.

'_Well Mike... you're about to find out why I never accepted.'_

Finally reaching the doors to the cafeteria, Vincent came to a stop at a corner, staring at the glass double-doors. Beyond, he knew there was a wall that blocked off direct view of the seating area and to the left was a hall that led around to the serving section. There, he could find the salad bar for cover, as well as the cash register podiums. In the seating area, tables had been tossed to the sides, which meant that there was plenty of cover to be found there too.

Visual cover, at least. Vincent doubted those things would stand up to any sort of physical abuse.

'_I hope Lauren and Mike are okay...'_

The thought stopped him as he was about to move.

'_...This isn't just a job. This is personal.'_ Closing his red eyes, Vincent lifted his flesh-hand to rub them. _'I'd better be careful then. No mistakes. None!'_

Slipping out of his hiding spot, he dashed for the glass doors and upon reaching them, opened one and slid in, carefully holding it as it closed to keep it from making noise.

The area directly in front of him was empty of Heartless, and taking a breath, Vincent decided to head left, dashing down the hall to the serving area. Years of lunches here washed through his mind – lonely and boring at first, but gradually more entertaining as Lauren and Mike invited themselves to sit with him.

Peeking around the edge of the wall, Vincent quickly counted fifteen Heartless; mixed Shadows and the little armored ones. Taking the dive for the salad bar, Vincent fired off three shots, accurately hitting the nearest three Shadows in the heads. They disappeared in black puffs.

Now alerted to his presence, the remaining Heartless made a mad rush for his cover.

A smile almost crossed his lips as he sprang, leaping over the salad bar, firing off three more shots as he went over.

Three more Heartless died. Landing and rolling behind one of the two cash registers, Vincent didn't wait to spring into action again, heading for a nearby overturned table. The stupid Heartless hadn't seen him change locations after he'd gone behind the register, and upon finding him not there, they milled about in a confused knot.

Inside the cage, the hostages had started calling for help, and firmly, Vincent ignored them. He would help them once the room was cleared.

Finishing his reload, Vincent broke from cover, firing six more shots.

The three remaining Heartless, a shadow and two armors, made a mad dash for him, and deciding to not waste any more ammo on them, Vincent holstered his gun and dodged the first Armor's bodily leap. Catching it, he helped it along its flight to slam face-first into the bars of the cage.

Flailing in shock, the Armor died on the electrified bars.

That explained why none of the occupants of the cage would touch the sides.

Rolling aside, Vincent dodged another bodily leap from the second Armor, then caught the Shadow as it lifted out of the floor. Throwing the little black creature with his flesh hand, he hit the bars of the cage again and scored another kill. Finally, the remaining Armor flailed and ran at him. Kicking it down, Vincent grabbed its head and broke its spine, then ducked for cover behind another table.

That had been too easy.

"Vincent!" a familiar voice called as Vincent put his back to a wall.

"What?" said a second familiar voice.

Vincent sighed. Lauren and Mike were fine apparently. Probably scared shitless, but that would be normal for this type of situation.

"That was Vincent!" Lauren insisted.

"Vince - I don't believe it! He said he couldn't shoot!"

"I swear that was Vincent!" she insisted. "Vincent – the bars are electrified, you'll have to shut off the power to get us out!"

'_I'm sure there are other ways to do it,'_ Vincent mused, looking up above the cage, finding the frayed wire that had been tied to the metal bars. That was easily fixed.

"He'll have to get through me first," another, also familiar, voice finished.

'_Knew they wouldn't just leave a few pitiful Heartless to handle this.'_ Vincent did not bother checking to see who his new enemy was. He knew the owner of that voice easily. Jesse Paloni, the office asshole. He had always thought it was funny to make jokes about amputees around Vincent. Not that Vincent had ever really cared. He was one-armed by choice.

Finishing his reload, Vincent eyed his gun, allowing himself a smirk. _'Okay, so I AM going to enjoy this one... just a little.'_

Instinctively, Vincent dived for new cover – just in time for the table he had been behind to become little more than particle board shrapnel. _'Machine gun. M16,'_ Vincent identified. Not a bad weapon for close quarters, but given how heavy on the trigger Jesse was being, it would be out of ammo pretty soon.

Deciding to bet on that, Vincent sprang from cover, drawing fire as he ran across the room.

The end of his cloak, already tattered from years of use, had a few more bullet holes in it as he dived down and rolled behind some more tables.

"I'll catch you – you one armed freak!" Jesse called. "No amputee is going to get in between me and ultimate power!" the man shouted as he hosed down some tables Vincent should have been behind – if he had not backtracked instead. Jesse, to all appearances, had not been converted into any sort of Heartless monster. That was good, since Vincent really was a little out of practice. Fighting Sephiroth again had been a thing of adrenaline and luck.

Jesse knew nothing about how to handle a gun, nor tactics.

Jesse was also slightly overweight and generally out of shape.

Springing forth from his cover, cloak flying back from his shoulders as he flew through the air, Vincent landed firmly against Jesse's back, brass claw latching onto the man's head and twisted, followed by unloading half his clip into the man's back.

Jesse was dead before he hit the floor, and Vincent rolled away and to his feet. "Never liked you much anyway," the dark haired man stated and stalked closer to fire one more shot into the man's head.

"...little overkill there, Vincent," Mike said, pale as a ghost.

"No such thing," Vincent replied as he stepped over the corpse and to the locked door of the cage. Eyeing it, then the wire above, Vincent took aim at the thick wire, and a shot later, it fell to the floor in the center of the cage. Grasping the lock with his brass claw, the ex-Turk ripped it free and opened the door.

"Vincent! Behind you!" Lauren screamed, and turning swiftly, Vincent tucked and rolled, avoiding the claws that raked the air where his head had been.

* * *

AN: Character Reunions! In ur fic, slowin down the plot! yeah. Sorry about skimming a lot in this chapter, but I really didn't want to write those character reunions, since, well, you can probably guess what happens in them.  
Tidus: Yuna! -lessthanthree-  
Yuna: Tidus! -squeeeee-  
Tidus: -glomp-  
Wakka: Yay! Yuna's alive!  
Lulu: ... (yay!)  
etc...

Anyway... I'm hoping to soon be to the point where I've got more written than is posted. Hopefully that will happen soon...

In other news, please check out my original story "Playing the Hero" on FictionPress (the mirror site of FF.n for original work). It's under the same penname I have here: Aloria. I'd appreciate it muchly if you reviewed too!

Next Chapter: A whole lot of battles.


	76. Office Space Wars

_Chapter 76_

_(Office Space Wars)_

Waiting patiently for the signal, Zack crouched in the bushes beside Squall and Irvine, hand back on the hilt of Buster Sword. _'All we've got to do is distract this thing long enough for Sora to get inside.'_

Sephie shifted restlessly, twitchy in her own cute way. Zack cast a grin at her, which she immediately returned. "We're gonna kick this thing's butt!" she enthused.

Suddenly, an explosion went off, catching their attention, and as one, the group burst from their hiding spot, Irvine taking the first shot to get the Heartless's attention.

* * *

"Alright," Tidus said as they paused briefly before emerging from the trees that lined the edge of the large lawn. "We're supposed to start this off, right? So let's start off with a bang!" he grinned broadly and looked at Lulu. The black mage frowned at him.

However, she did set her Moogle backpack on the ground before lifting her hands. The stuffed animal immediately stood, mimicking her posture as the dark-haired young woman called upon her powers. "Fire!" she cast, flinging her hands towards their target.

A blossom of fire exploded on the hand they had been sent to attack. Twitching, the appendage turned – as did an eye – and the Heartless-infested Building reached towards them.

As one, the group scattered, Yuna drawing her guns and running to the right, Rikku followed, darting through the air like a sparrow. Paine went with Tidus in a forward rush to meet the oncoming limb while Lulu, Wakka, and Khimari broke to the left.

* * *

The garden was just as Sora had left it; perched atop the office building, multiple arms sticking out in all directions, and eyes turned towards the lawn below. The hands that Sora and his friends had already disabled had disappeared, new ones having formed.

Mickey stared up at the building and shook his head. Goofy was the first to speak, "Gawrsh, this thing sure is big... How are we gonna defeat it?"

"We don't need to," Riku stated firmly, "Our goal is the guy inside."

"Maybe once we get rid of Kefka, the building will return to normal?" Sora suggested.

"We just have to try!" Mickey stated firmly.

Turning his attention inwards, Sora addressed his Nobody, '_Are you ready, Roxas?' _

'_Ready.'_

Sora lifted his left arm, looking at the crystal bracer that coated his forearm, _'We're coming for you, Kaiyou.'_ Clenching his fist, the brunet lifted his head and looked up at the heartless-infested Garden. 'First, though, we've got to take care of this!' "Let's get to work!" he said, calling his keyblades to his hands. Since he was merged with Roxas, he had access to dual wielding capabilities, which he intended to use in this fight.

"The shignal!" Donald pointed out needlessly as an explosion went off from Yuna's side of the building.

Together, the group made a concentrated rush towards the building, dashing across the open lawn. Too distracted to pay attention to them at first, the Heartless Garden did not immediately attack. After a second, though, it turned, slapping a giant hand down at them. Taking advantage of the situation, Sora leapt atop the back of the hand, dashing up the arm. Riku was not more than a second behind him. Goofy, Donald, and Mickey missed the first ride. Lifting its arm, the Heartless tried to shake Sora and Riku off, but Sora dropped down to cling on like a tic and Riku continued running, making his way to the shoulder where he stabbed his Keyblade into the Heartless's flesh. Annoyed, but still too distracted by the other groups attacking it, the Heartless's arm went limp, giving Sora and the others a chance to get up.

Reaching the Heartless's shoulder, they leapt down onto a balcony below.

Landing hard, Sora rolled to take some of the impact and was on his feet again in a second and leading the way into the building. Riku, of course, was only a step behind.

Even as they entered, though, another hand came whipping around to slap the balcony they had landed on, crumbling it to dust. Donald and Goofy, bringing up the rear leapt to avoid the blow, sliding on their faces across the marble tiles of the floor. Sora paused, looking back to check on them, but Goofy was quick to recover and Donald flailed back to his feet, fussing.

Unable to help it, Sora grinned. _'I'm glad to have them with me again.'_

Roxas made no comment.

Ahead, Riku had come to an intersection and paused, "Where do you think he'd be?" he asked Sora.

"Well, he was in the ball room last time. Maybe he's still there?"

"Gawrsh, I suppose it's as good a place as any to start," Goofy mused. Riku nodded agreement to that and Sora turned heading down the right-hand hall. If his memory served correct – the ballroom should have been on the north side of the building.

Taking off, Sora swept his blades in front of him, destroying any low-level heartless that got in his way, of which there were plenty. Behind, he could hear Donald casting spells and Goofy's odd war-yodel. Mickey was silent, as was Riku, except for the occasional grunt of effort.

The halls went by in a blur, and at last, they burst into the ballroom. Skidding to a stop as Sora abruptly found the way clear, Donald and Goofy thumping into him from behind, Riku and Mickey fanned out to either side.

"Kehehehehee!" Kefka giggled obnoxiously, voice echoing off the walls of the empty room. "You children really think you can do anything to me?"

Sora grasped his blades tightly. _'Don't bother arguing with him,'_ Roxas suggested, and Sora moved further into the room. Donald and Goofy stuck close, facing away from Sora, back to back.

Knives slashing even as he faded into existence in front of Sora, Kefka grinned maniacally. Swiftly dodging back, Sora brought his own blades up to defend, but was too late to retaliate, for Kefka had already disappeared once more. Riku was next, but managed to get his Keyblade up in time to block. Mickey's strike hit the crazy Prince of Darkness in the back, but there was no time for a follow-up attack, for Kefka had already disappeared again, leaving the group to stand there, nervously waiting for the next strike.

'_How... can we fight him if he won't come OUT!'_ Sora demanded of Roxas.

Unfortunately, his Nobody did not have an answer, and Sora turned to take a swing at the apparition that was Kefka as the clown attacked Donald.

"I can do this all day, kids," Kefka taunted cheerfully. "How long are _YOU_ willing to play?"

A flurry of attacks came from nearly all sides at once, Kefka's figure dancing in and out of sight as he sliced. Mickey took a cut that sent him flying. Riku ran to defend the fallen king, only to get slapped the opposite direction. Goofy went flying as a foot hit him in the face. Donald got booted the other direction.

Sora was the last one standing, not out of his own skill, since he knew Riku was better than that. "You kids have all been so much fun, but I've got a universe to control," Kefka mused. "I'll have to dispose of you now."

"NO!" Sora shouted, searching his memory for some spell or move or _something_ that would help him.

Reaching for Kaiyou occurred to him, but she wasn't available.

Something stirred within him – awakened by his blind fumbling, and even as he was hit directly in the stomach and sent flying, a name resurfaced.

"_Ifrit!"_ he called, reaching within to grasp the writhing Essence within him. The gift Squall had given him some time ago that Sora had never had much reason to think of using.

The air turned hot, and as Sora landed on the floor and skidded halfway across the room, the curtains caught flame, the marble beginning to melt under the stress. Rolling to his feet as he came to a stop, Sora dodged another blow from Kefka, then glanced over to see if his friends were alright – only to find that they had recovered, but were now covered by fiery shields.

As the air became nearly too intense to breathe, the floor burst upwards in a bubble of slag. Sora staggered back – only to run into something – and found that he too was covered by one of the fiery shields. The molten lava that had become the floor finally exploded in a shower of slag that splashed against Sora's shield and dripped down to the floor again.

Lifting its head, the beast that Sora had chosen to summon roared loudly, then shook its fiery mane out, black horns reflecting the fire the beast breathed. Sora blinked, "Wow, that's cool!"

Kefka finally made an appearance, forming solid some distance from Ifrit. "What's this? A summon?" he mused. "Fine. Hit me with your best shot," he teased.

Ifrit snarled, fire leaking from between his fangs as he went down on all fours, kicking the floor with a back foot. Launching forward, the beast left streaks of fire across the floor in a blast that rocked Kefka.

Kefka cackled, straightening. "Is that all you've got then?" he teased, apparently thinking that Ifrit was going to disappear now.

Sora was ready to leap forward and make an attack now, expecting Ifrit to disappear.

Except Ifrit did not.

Retaking its place, the beast attacked again, swinging a giant clawed hand at Kefka, which the Prince of Darkness avoided, but barely. And still, Ifrit was barreling down on the tiny clown, breathing fire as it swatted at Kefka.

Finally, Kefka began retaliating, disappearing before Ifrit could attack and striking the Summon from behind. However, for every shot Kefka succeeded in taking, he was slapped across the room.

Slamming into Sora's shield-bubble, the Prince of Darkness kicked off, flying straight towards Ifrit's open jaws, knives out.

Swallowing the clown, the fire-lord suddenly shuddered, shaking itself all over.

Sora could see the shield around him begin to weaken and held his blades at the ready, not quite believing that Kefka was finished.

Abruptly, Ifrit exploded into sparks of fire and wisps of multicolored lights. The fire in the room abruptly died, leaving the floor solid, if slightly melted, and standing in the center of it all, looking slightly worse for wear was Kefka. Bursting into motion at the same time Riku did, Sora struck the clown from one side. Riku slammed his blade in from the other. Mickey, springing past from a third direction put in several swings before Goofy's shield went twirling past to knock into Kefka's other side.

Last, Donald shouted, "Firaga!" calling forth a blast of flame that sent Kefka to his knees finally.

"_Kekekehehehee!"_

Slowly getting to his feet again, Kefka lifted his hands as they began to fade into dark wisps, his hair smoking away.

"This isn't over," he promised, and abruptly crumbled into a pile of ash on the floor.

It was then that Sora noticed that the floor was vibrating.

Riku met his gaze, "We need to run for it now."

"Out the window!" Sora directed and made a run for it.

* * *

Dodging just in time for claws to rip the air above him, Vincent rolled to the side and was on his feet once again.

The creature before him had apparently been waiting for Vincent's distraction to come out and play. Here was the _real_ guardian of the Hostages. This Heartless looked something akin to Vincent's Gallion Beast form, with a beast-like head, long talons, and a brutish hairy body about eight feet tall.

Dodging another clawed attack, Vincent swiftly reloaded his gun while he moved, then began to unload it at the beast. Ducking in a roll, he snatched up Jesse's M16, holding it in his claw-hand as he continued his roll. Holstering his pistol, Vincent came up with the M16 and fired a controlled burst into the gray beast's head. Wounded, it reared back and roared, making a blind rush at him.

Dodging aside, Vincent avoided getting caught by one of those large hands, but barely. Getting his feet under him once more, he fired the M16 again, only to run out of bullets. Damn Jesse and his idiocy! Distracted by the gun, Vincent missed seeing the monster suddenly turn. The backhand caught the ex-Turk in the stomach and sent him flying.

Thankfully, the salad bar broke his fall.

Unfortunately, it broke as well, old salad bits and masonry flying everywhere.

The beast growled and stomped towards the wreckage where Vincent's cloak lay on the floor. Picking up the cloak, the beast shook it, then turned, just in time to receive a face full of Vincent.

Surprised, but not totally off guard, the beast opened its mouth to bite, only to have Vincent's left arm slam into its throat, metal claws digging in. Choking, it reared back and flailed, attempting to remove Vincent. Swinging agilely to land on the back of its shoulders, the ex-Turk brought his pistol out again, firing three shots into the back of the creature's skull.

Gurgling in pain as Vincent ripped his metal claw free – along with the beast's tonsils – the Heartless began to topple backwards. Vincent flipped over its head deftly and landed in a roll, firing the remaining shots in his pistol into its chest as it fell.

As Vincent straightened, he flicked black blood off his brass claws and turned to face his crowd of forty hostages. Stepping over Jesse again, Vincent's finger automatically pulled the trigger. Thankfully, the pistol was empty.

"Man," Mike said as Vincent pulled the cage door open. "You really ...didn't like Jesse much, did you?"

"..." Vincent answered.

"My _hero_," Lauren squealed and threw herself at him, planting her mouth on his firmly – and just as firmly reassured him that she certainly wasn't going to let this little fiasco break their friendship.

"Not yet," Vincent stated as she let him go. She'd certainly never kissed him before, even if she'd insinuated that she thought he was attractive. Lauren, thankfully, was still happily married. "Still have to get out of here." He looked over the group of terrified office workers as they tried to avoid Jesse's body. "We will be exiting through the south door," he raised his voice to tell them, that being the door he'd used to get in, and also had the straightest path to the cafeteria to the outside. "And stay together. I'll cover you."

Pausing, Vincent cocked his head as he listened to something.

"I believe Galbadia Garden is falling," he concluded, "We need to move now. Go!"

He turned and dashed for the door, filling his pistol as he went. Hitting the door, he came out with his gun raised and ready. There were no Heartless in the hall beyond, and hurrying ahead, he led the way as the government employees stampeded behind.

After two turns, he finally reached the exit door – having not seen a single Heartless in the hall, Vincent opened the door and broke out into the lawn. Still, there were no Heartless and Vincent stepped back as the ex-hostages dashed by, heading for the streets. Mike and Lauren stayed behind, Mike having picked up the fallen M16 and Jesse's extra clips that Vincent hadn't had time to find.

"Where now? The whole town's probably a mess," Mike pointed out.

"SeeD are waiting," Vincent replied.

"Where'd you learn to fight, anyway?" Lauren asked, "...you didn't lose your arm in a car crash at all, did you?"

"...No." Vincent replied shortly, "This isn't a place to hang and chat," he pointed out. "Move."

Taking the hint, finally, Lauren and Mike moved ahead, dashing for the edge of the lawn and the trees planted there – where everyone else had stopped to gawk.

Behind, Galbadia Garden's parasite Heartless began to flail, then shrieked in agony as it died.

"Move on," Vincent ordered, encouraging his group of ex-hostages onwards towards the line of SeeDs who had managed to take back all but the government sector of the city.

'_Mission complete... No casualties. Not bad for being out of practice...'_

* * *

AN:

Yeah. I totally skimmed on Yuna and Squall's teams but... you guys have seen a fight with a bunch of hands before this. So I just got on with the interesting part.

I am REALLY sorry about taking so long with this. My Real real life abruptly started. Graduated, got a job, and am now an office-worker. Lesigh. At least I get days where I have nothing to do and can work on my writing.

Anyway – speaking of writing. I have a website for my original series I'm starting. NatanFleetShow (dot) Com! Go check it out!


	77. Stories

_Chapter 77_

_(Stories)_

The landscape was hellish. The blasted ground was studded with spires that pointed up at the sky like accusing fingers, and all around, lightning flashed and flickered.

Olette clutched her shoulders, flinching at every bang of thunder. Pence stayed near her in the center of the group as they cautiously crept from one spire to the next, since walking out in the open hadn't seemed like a very bright idea after Seifer had gotten hit three times in a row.

_'It's a wonder he's not dead...'_ Kaiyou mused as she walked with Vivi at the rear of the pack, watching their backs.

"Alright..." Pence said in the tense silence of the group once they got under a spire. "You think we're far enough away from that place to talk now?"

Kaiyou sighed and looked back over her shoulder. They were indeed well out of sight of the Guado city and no one had followed them as far as they could tell. "I guess... though I wonder if he can't teleport or something. Being dead and all..."

"What?" Olette asked.

"Seymour is dead," Kaiyou repeated. "But not gone." She shook her head, "I don't understand either."

Hayner looked back, "So you told him you weren't gonna work for him, huh?"

She nodded, "Yeah... Maybe I would have chosen differently if you guys weren't around," Kaiyou sighed, "Not much choice really."

"Wait – what's going on?" Pence demanded.

Olette nodded and took a seat, "I can't stand this whole... some people knowing things and not telling the rest of us."

"You're the only ones who don't know," Seifer stated.

"What?"

Kaiyou snorted, "You don't even know it all, Seifer. Quit being a jerk."

He stared at her then shrugged. "Fine, then explain."

Sighing, Kaiyou folded her arms on her chest as she began, "Fine. Here's the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God. I'm Sora's twin sister. When we were little, something happened and I got lost. I apparently nearly died or something and to save myself, I split." Holding up a hand, she kept anyone from interrupting her, "My body got captured by the Organization – she's called Kosuiko. Koko for short. My soul went with me – I call her Umi – and I seem to have lost her in the crash along with Koko, Kairi and Demyx. As for me... I'm just a heart. Almost a Heartless. Almost. Except I've got no darkness _or_ light. So I'm not evil or good. I just reflect whoever's around me. Apparently, I've also got the power to amplify whoever is around me but I don't know how to do that yet. As for Seymour, he wanted to use me to kill everyone in the universe. On the way back from having a little chat with Seymour, I met Seifer in the hall and he said something about getting out. I told him I was about to go upset our host and that he should get you guys and go and I'd catch up. Yes, I have met with Sora – or at least enough of him and had a talk about using his name, but I honestly didn't remember who I was when I got picked up by Donald and Goofy. They called me Sora, and ...it was familiar, so I thought," she sighed softly, "In any case, I'm going by the name Aros now."

Stopping, Kaiyou looked over the group and stated, "And there you have it. Everything."

Rai opened his mouth, then paused as a crash of thunder interrupted him. Once the rumble died down slightly, he continued, "So... you're saying... that anything you do... is really because of us? Y'know?"

Kaiyou looked away, "...I can't help it. I have...every intention of doing the right thing, but if those I'm with are really just awful people..." Dropping her hands to her sides she concluded, "Like I said... if you guys hadn't been with me, I'd probably have chosen differently."

"You mean you would have..." Hayner stepped forward, eyes wide, "You would have just... let him kill you?"

"It really _was_ a nice place..." Kaiyou admitted. "You saw it..."

"But... all that would be left of you would be reflections!" Hayner objected.

"And how is that different from what I am now?" Kaiyou snapped back, then reined herself in with a sigh. Shaking her head, she shifted her weight, looking up at the sky with a frown. "Maybe I wouldn't have agreed immediately. I do have Sora's feelings to think about. But..." flipping her hand in frustration, she dismissed the topic. "It doesn't matter now. Done's done. I can't go back and change my mind... I won't. I've got at least that much going for me. I don't easily change my mind about things."

Olette rocked herself slightly, "So... what's your real name? If your Body is called Koko and your Soul is Umi and you're Aros..."

"My name is...my own business. Those I care about know it."

Hayner frowned, "You saying you don't care about us?"

Kaiyou winced, but kept her mouth shut for a moment as she thought about her answer. "I'm saying that you're Sora's friends. I don't know you like he does. I'm sure you're quite nice, trustworthy people, but I'm not used to trusting anyone."

"So who _does_ know your name?" Seifer asked.

"My family," Kaiyou stated without hesitation. _'And Riku and Dagger. And Gary.'_ "We really shouldn't linger here," she pointed out, "We need to find shelter." Her statement was punctuated by a bolt of lightning hitting the object they were standing beneath.

Nodding, Olette got up once more and the group headed onwards, trying their best to avoid the lightning and ignore the thunder. It was a vast relief when they spotted a brightly painted hut, and as one, they broke into a run, heading for it. Seifer reached it first and banged on the door, which opened under his pounding.

Inside, it was brightly lit, warm, and dry. Without hesitating, he stepped in, "Hey? Anyone here?" he called.

"Oh – welcome!" someone with a strange accent called from another room, and shortly, that person appeared. He was a middle aged man with a dark tan, dark hair, and green eyes. Kaiyou stared at him. There was something off about his eyes... "We don't get visitors here often since Sin was defeated. What brings you?"

"None of your business," Seifer replied.

"Wait – what's Sin?" Pence had to ask.

Hayner glanced at his friend, then nodded in agreement. _'Hopefully,'_ Kaiyou mused, _'It isn't something WE will have to worry about.'_

He got stared at blankly by the man. Then, as he came to realize that none of his guests apparently knew who or what Sin was, he blinked again.

Taking a breath and stepping forward, Kaiyou decided that it was best to explain, "We're not from this world, sir. We got dragged here when the world we were on got destroyed. So, if you could please tell us about anything important – as in life threatening – that we should know about, that'd be appreciated."

"Oh," he murmured, shifting uneasily.

"Don't worry about it," another voice replied behind them. "I'll take care of this."

As one, the group turned, gaze falling upon a tall man in a red coat, his expression hidden behind its tall collar and a pair of sunglasses. He was an older man, with salt and peppered black hair and a scar running down the left side of his face. What little Kaiyou could see of his body beneath the coat was toned and in very good shape, which led her to suspect that he was probably a fighter of some kind. The man stepped forward, walking straight to Kaiyou, where he stopped in front of her. "I see," he murmured. "So you're Sora's sister?"

Irritated, Kaiyou stepped back a pace without answering.

"You don't pick your battles very well," the man continued. Strapped to his back was a sword Kaiyou suspected could have been used as a giant's can opener. "But I suppose you had no choice this time." Glancing around, he nodded slightly, "Seymour has a tendency to do that." After another pause, he finally said, "I'm Auron."

"So, old man, you on our side or what then?" Seifer asked, striding forward boldly.

Looking towards him, Auron gave a nod. "We share an enemy or two."

"Or two?" Kaiyou asked, "so who else has upset you, sir?"

"Those people in the black coats... The Organization, I believe they're called." Auron replied, "As well as a few others."

Lifting a hand, Kaiyou placed it on her heart as she stared at the man. _'Maybe... if I open myself up a moment... I'll get an idea of what this guy's like...'_ Closing her eyes, she held her breath as she tried.

It was hard at first, but after a moment...

"Ah! Aros! It's too bright!" Hayner complained.

Startled, Kaiyou opened her eyes – and suddenly fatigued, dropped to her knees, panting. "I... sorry... I just... was trying something."

"You probably shouldn't do that," Auron pointed out blandly. "It'll attract unwanted attention."

Looking up at him, Kaiyou met his eyes, "You're so...full of regret... What you did can't be that bad..."

"More what I didn't do," Auron replied and offered his hand down to her. Taking it, she let him pull her back up, but it took a moment to regain her balance and stand on her own.

Seifer folded his arms on his chest, growling, "So what? You like this guy but didn't like the other weirdo that walked up and helped us?"

Shooting a glare at him, Kaiyou snapped back, "Yes. _Seymour_ gave me the creeps. All I'm feeling from _him_ is Light." She gestured a thumb at Auron.

"You should trust her instincts," Auron replied. "She is the Amplifier, after all."

"So you believe that bullshit too," Seifer snorted.

Just as blandly, Auron answered, "You saw it with your own eyes what just lowering her barriers can do."

Slowly, Kaiyou shook her head, "But... is that all I'm good for? Blinding people?"

Unexpectedly, Auron laughed, albeit a short one, "Hardly. You, being the source, aren't aware of how much you boosted everyone here." He gestured to Pence and Olette. "They're not even tired anymore."

Olette blinked, as if suddenly realizing it now that Auron mentioned. "He's right... I ... I feel rather good, actually." Pence nodded agreement.

"This boost should last quite a while, too."

"So..." Kaiyou mused, voice dropping, "I'm capable of a lot just by lowering my barriers... and I'm still broken."

Auron nodded. "You're a pure substance right now. The ability to focus the power should come to you as you gather the pieces."

"Hey," Hayner interrupted. "You sure know a lot about this stuff."

Turning to look at the boy, Auron replied blandly, "I collect stories. This one seemed like a good one."

Kaiyou snorted. "Whatever... I really made Seymour angry when I told him no. We'd better move on. How do we get out of here? Is this place endless?"

"No. The Thunder Plains end at the Macalania woods. From there we can either go to the Calm Lands, Bevel, or to the Macalania temple," Auron answered. "But it hardly matters. Seymour, being Unsent, can move where he wants."

"Then why hasn't he attacked us yet?" Olette asked.

"He's got other things to worry about at the moment..."

Auron smiled.

"For now," he added after a moment, "Let's head to Bevel," he looked down at Kaiyou. "From there we can go to Lucca where we might be able to find a ship," he pointed out as she balked.

"..." closing her mouth, Kaiyou frowned slightly, "Alright..."

* * *

Something had been bothering Sora for quite some time and it had taken nearly all day for things to settle down enough for him to go pin Riku in a secluded spot. That secluded spot happened to be an office in the capitol building. Galbadia had fallen on half the building, but thankfully no one had been injured. Now, though, SeeD was running through it, destroying all the remaining Heartless, hoping to have it cleared before the press conference that was scheduled in a few hours. Sora and Riku had been helping in the effort, but Sora figured this was as good a time as any to corner Riku.

"Now what is it?" Riku asked, folding his arms as Sora pushed the door but did not check to see that it latched. Stepping over to the window, the young man stared out it.

Coming to stand next to his friend, Sora put his hands on his hips as he stared up at Riku, taping the toe of one foot on the floor behind him, "Something changed," Sora stated, deciding to just be blunt and get to it. "You... You're different, somehow."

Riku looked away, "Yeah. Past came back and bit me," he replied. "I'd rather not think about it."

Setting his foot fully on the floor again, Sora clasped his fingers into his palms as he whined, "Oh come on! You always do things like this!"

The silver-haired young man sighed heavily. "Yeah. I know. It's just... It's serious." Shaking his head, Riku shook hair from his eyes and finally turned to look at Sora fully, "I'm not giving up, if that's what you're worried about. I just need to..." he looked aside, "To heal."

For a long moment, Sora remained silent, simply looking at Riku, then he nodded. "Alright. I guess you'll tell me when you're ready to."

"Yep," Riku replied, a hint of a smile touching his lips.

"Uhm... why are you wearing Aros's necklace?"

Blinking, Riku returned his gaze to Sora, "Kaiyou gave it to me," he answered simply.

This time, Sora nodded immediately, apparently pleased by his friend's answer.

Suddenly grinning, Sora needled, "So... Kairi's all mine, huh?"

"_What_?!"

* * *

'_Not going to give up...'_

Vincent closed his eyes and sighed softly, having been completely unnoticed in the hall. He had gone looking for Riku, only to find that Sora had beat him to it. He had been trying, for the last hour, to get the courage. _'Should have gone sooner... but...'_

Well, at least overhearing this conversation had allayed his fears some. Maybe later... after everything was over, Vincent would get the chance to try again. _'Hopefully... I won't screw up, like I have every other time I've tried talking to him. Maybe it will go better than this time. Now that the truth is out... I won't have to lie to him anymore.'_

Vincent leaned against the wall, tipping his head back as he listened to Sora tease Riku, firing shots that had to have been carefully thought out in advance – and possibly Sora had gotten some help in crafting them, since not all of them sounded quite like his style. Riku was either sputtering or laughing in embarrassment.

A smile crept onto Vincent's lips, and silently, he moved away from the door.

'_I'll talk to him when this is all over.'_

* * *

AN: Arg. Just when I think things have settled down, everything gets stirred up again. ... I lost my nice quiet little office and am now in the room with all the printers. AKA: distraction city. At least now I'm a little bit ahead on the writing and what's posted. So I can start actually having real teasers instead of excuses. I ALSO have a fairly solid plan of events from here till the end! Still, it'll be a matter of manipulating everyone into place, but... I know where I'm going now, which should make things go faster .

Next chapter: Press conferences, decisions made, and a punch in the nose. He deserved it, REALLY!


	78. Deja Vu at Last

_Chapter 78_

_(Déjà Vu at Last)_

The cleanup effort was finally complete. It had only taken a few hours, but now it was past sunset and Sora now had to get cleaned up for a public appearance. This meeting was meant to prove to the world that he, Laguna, and Ellone were just fine and in control. Someone had managed to get Sora a button-down shirt and some khakis, and feeling uncomfortable, he took his seat at the table on the other side of his father with Squall to his right.

Camera flashes blinded him, but Sora kept his smile through the flood of questions; where were you? What were you doing? What took you so long to come back? What were those things?

The questions about the Heartless were fielded to Sora, since he had the most experience in that subject. Laguna had even stated that Sora was the expert on the matter and added that he was making an Extraterrestrial Affairs department, of which Sora was now a member, adding something about defining the duties and powers of this department later, but that it would involve Ambassadors and such.

Sora had been stunned by that. _'From high school, a year behind and barely passing to Ambassador...' _At least Sora was able to explain that he was a Keyblade Master, what that meant, and that he, Riku, Kairi, and a few others were responsible for protecting the universe from the Darkness. This, at least, would make it easier to be honest with his friends about where he had gone when he went missing for a year.

He left out the part where Riku was the one who had opened the Door and sent their world into Darkness.

He left out mention of his sister.

He left out mention of his Nobody – for which Roxas was glad.

He did talk about King Mickey and the other worlds he had been to, though, and by the looks he was being given by the people behind the cameras, his story wasn't very believable. _'I guess they'll just have to see for themselves...'_

At last, the questioning was over and Sora followed his parents to Laguna's office – which Ellone had been borrowing for the last few years. Heading for his desk, Laguna dropped into the chair behind it and sighed, lacing his fingers behind his head. "Now that's fixed..." he started.

Roxas interrupted – stepping out of Sora before the brunet could even blink, startling Ellone, "We still can't get in contact with Kaiyou," he reported to Laguna.

Sora shook his head, scratching the back of his neck as he stepped out from behind Roxas, "He's been trying for the last hour... but nothing. We're really not sure what that means, but, I think if something had really happened to her, we'd know." His Nobody nodded in agreement to that. "By the way, Mom, this is Roxas."

Carefully stepping forward, Ellone placed her hands on Roxas's shoulders, then smiled, pulling him in for a hug, "I wish I'd known about you sooner," she told him, startling the ex-Nobody, but slowly, Roxas lifted his arms to put around her in return.

"...sorry, it would have been...weird..." Roxas said, voice shaking a little.

Laguna sat forward, putting his elbows on the desk, "Damn," he muttered, "And no one knows where she might have gone..."

Sora shrugged a little, "All I can do is wait for something to trigger one of her memories," he admitted, "That's how I've actually been keeping track of her."

"We should call everyone for a meeting, in the meantime," Ellone said, "There's a lot that needs doing."

"Uh, Sora, your... sidepack is glowing," Laguna pointed out.

Roxas grinned, "Speak and you shall receive!"

Starting and looking down at his sidepack, Sora pulled the book out quickly, "I'll be back in a second, okay?"

"I'm coming too," Roxas stated and before Sora could object and released Ellone, merging with his Other.

"Okay," Sora mused and opened the book, Laguna and Ellone watching in fascination.

* * *

They had been walking all day, and still no sign of Seymour. Kaiyou's nerves were wearing thin from constantly looking over her shoulder to make sure the rest of the group was alright still – that no one had gotten lost, or fallen or something. Pence and Olette were holding up alright, but they were beginning to look tired.

For the last few hours, they had been walking through the strangest forest Kaiyou had ever seen. It _sang_. That was the only way she could describe it. The forest itself sang; wherever light touched a leaf, a soft tone could be heard. The air itself had a quality of something sacred or untouchable. There had been monsters along the way, for sure, but even those seemed strangely crystallized – not in form, but in essence. Kaiyou simply was not up to the task of describing it, but had the presence of mind to pull out her camera and took a few pictures for the fun of it. Pence, predictably, asked for copies when she got them developed. Sadly, Kaiyou realized that she'd had the opportunity to take pictures of a lot of other neat places but had not done so. _'Wish I had a picture of Dagger by herself at least...'_

As the sun was setting, Auron called a halt and led the way through some bushes and into a small clearing off the road. "We'll rest here for a bit," he said.

Gratefully, Olette and Pence dropped to seats on the ground. Kaiyou gazed at them sadly. _'My fault they're out here anyway...'_ she sighed mentally and turned away, only to find Seifer facing her.

"So why did you lie about your gender?" The tinkling of light through the trees had been the only sound for quite some time, so Seifer's question was a little startling, not to mention out of the blue.

Kaiyou blinked then finally collected her wits enough to realize that Seifer was indeed talking to her.

"I never lied about it," she grouched. She had been in a good mood, too!

"You sure weren't very honest about it," Seifer sneered, looming over her with his superior height. The action annoyed her far more than anything he could have said.

Belligerently, she stared up at him. "You figured it out fairly quickly anyway," Kaiyou pointed out.

"Only because I grabbed your bra," Seifer gestured towards her chest. "Not well endowed are you?"

"Shut up!" Fingers clenching into her palms, her fists tightened as his lips pulled towards a lopsided sneer.

"So why do you hide it?" Seifer prodded, moving closer.

_Don't trust boys. They'll only break you... Good bye._

Kaiyou's eyes widened, and without thinking, she swung her fist slamming it into Seifer's face. Shocked, he staggered back several steps, "Don't think you can push me around, jerk. Just because I don't have a penis doesn't mean I can't kick your butt!"

Hand going to his face, Seifer stared at her past his watering eyes, nose beginning to bleed even as Kaiyou turned on her heel and started off, stalking out of the little clearing and across the path to a spring with a tree growing in the center.

Holding back tears, she threw herself to the ground next to the spring, hand going to her throat – where her necklace no longer was.

'_Lindsey... I wish... I wish you hadn't done that...'_

Wrapping her arms around her knees, she put her face against them and tried to just concentrate on breathing. It was dangerous to be out by herself... But she needed to get her emotions under control before she broke down in front of the others.

"Was it you or someone else?" Auron's voice behind her made her flinch.

Lifting her head, Kaiyou looked over her shoulder to find Auron walking towards her. Reaching her side, he knelt slowly, looking at her over his sunglasses.

"...What do you mean?" Kaiyou asked him.

"I saw your expression... before you gave him what he was asking for," Auron said, "So, what's your story?"

Looking away, Kaiyou closed her eyes and sighed softly, "I... don't want to talk about it... Thanks for the concern... but it wasn't me."

Putting a hand on her shoulder, he gently squeezed, "We're staying here for the night. It's too late to move on."

"I won't be long. I know better than to be by myself for long," she sighed.

He squeezed her shoulder again and stood. Turning away, he headed back the way he had come.

And somehow... she felt reassured.

Even if he hadn't said anything, it was enough.

* * *

The light was still bright, but it had a different quality completely this time. Opening his eyes, Sora stared around at the play island, covered in snow. Instead of cold thin light, the sky actually had a sun in it and the snow beneath his feet was slightly slushy. Only one tombstone on the beach was still locked completely in ice, but the others were either partially or wholly clear of snow. Since he was standing next to Beelzebub's stone, Sora looked down at it, finding cracks that had not been there before.

"SORA!" a familiar voice exclaimed and Sora blinked – toppling back into the snow as Kairi threw herself on him.

"Kairi!" Sora breathed, wrapping his arms around her happily. He blinked again as the realization crossed his mind – he was hugging Kairi? "What're you doing here? I thought you were with Aros!" He pushed her back to look at her face. Kairi was wrapped in a coat that was too big for her with fur along the collar and made of black leather.

Stepping into view beside him, Umi stood with her arms folded, her usual displeased expression in place, "I brought Kairi and Demyx here in order to save them. Aros is alive, I have... unfortunately, combined with Kosuiko, and as a result, we are trapped here." Lifting her hand, Umi pulled the necklace from her throat as Sora got to his feet, helping Kairi up as well.

"Maybe you can get us out of here," Kairi suggested as she dusted herself off and shivered. "Fun as playing in the snow is, I'd like to warm up."

Sora turned to her and nodded, "I'll see what I can do... but give me a bit of time? I need to help Aros first." He paused to look around the area, spotting Demyx sitting on the tombstone for Rick.

"Where were you?" Kairi asked. "How did you get here?"

"I was in Esthar, I got Dad home, and he and Mom and I were in Dad's office. We just got rid of a crazy clown that was trying to take over. And I got here through Aros's diary."

Kairi stared, "A clown?" she asked.

"Fix Aros, then talk," Umi ordered, shoving the necklace at him.

"Right," Sora replied, taking the charm from her.

In a bright flash of light, the scene changed again.

When the light subsided, Sora found himself standing in a small room decorated with some girly posters and furnished by bunk beds. In the center, seated on the floor was a girl in a blue sundress, long locks of hair lying in hanks on the floor around her. Her trembling hand still held the scissors, the other clutching her necklace.

"Kaiyou," he said softly and crouched in front of her, reaching out to place his hands on her shoulders. "What's wrong? What happened?"

Lifting her eyes, she stared at him, "She's dead... Lindsey's dead – because of that BOY and no one believes me!"

Sitting, Sora pulled his sister closer, wrapping his arms around her as she burst into tears again. "She - she – she was the only one... who would talk to me! Now she's dead and they ... Everyone thinks she just killed herself for no reason! But it was because of that BOY! When I told everyone what he did... no one believes me... no one ever believes me!"

Taking the scissors from her, Sora set them aside, "I'm sorry," he said softly, "That's really wrong of them."

"What's the point of telling the truth if no one believes you anyway?" Kaiyou demanded, raising her voice.

"Because it's the right thing to do," Sora replied easily. "Sometimes...being a good person is a hard thing to do, people sometimes try to do bad things to you because they're taking the easy path. But you have to stay true to yourself. You can't let what everyone else says and does turn you into someone you're not, or someone you don't want to be."

Rubbing her face against his shoulder, Kaiyou sniffled, "What other choice is there? I – I can't protect myself! What if someone tries to do... what HE did to Lindsey?"

Unfortunately, Sora did not really have an answer, and as a result, he remained quiet, just petting her hair... what was left of it.

"I'll just avoid the issue," Kaiyou whispered, "I'll be sent to another foster home soon, and I'll dress like a boy there – I won't let anyone know! Then... then no one can hurt me like that, because they won't know." She lifted her eyes to stare at him, "I'll make myself look like you."

Sora sighed, "That's not really a good idea either..." he admitted.

Kaiyou suddenly sat up and shoved him away, "You don't know anything!" she shouted at him, "You're just imaginary anyway! Go away! I don't want to see you! I don't need you!"

Unable to argue with her, since she had released the pendant, Sora sat quietly and watched her return to chopping her hair. Light flooded the area and Sora found himself sitting in the snow back on an icy Destiny Islands. Kairi was standing in the same place he had left her, gazing at him in confusion.

"That didn't take long," she observed.

Getting to his feet, Sora shook his head, "Time doesn't flow the same," he admitted. "I'd better get back to reality and figure out how to get you out of here." He looked from Kairi to Umi, to Demyx.

"I should stay," Umi stated. "I need to keep things from coming back too quickly."

Kairi pouted slightly at Umi, "But all but one of the stones here are uncovered. What's left?"

Umi shook her head, "A lot of little things. But if they all come back at once..."

Sighing, Kairi turned back towards Sora, "Hurry please?"

"I will," he promised and smiled at her.

* * *

Blinking and coming back to himself, Sora found Laguna and Ellone just as he had left them.

"I thought it'd look more ...spectacular," Laguna mused.

"Sorry?" Sora replied, not quite sure what to say. He looked down at the book and decided to read his sister's entry on the memory later when he could do so without witnesses. Right now, he needed to figure out how to get Kairi out.

'_Any ideas, Roxas?'_

For a moment, his Nobody remained silent, then suggested, _'Use a Keyblade?'_

"I guess," Sora mused, "that might work." Setting the book down on the floor, he drew his Keyblade.

Confused, Laguna stood to get a better view, "What're you doing?" he asked as Sora pointed his blade at the book.

"I hope this doesn't mess up anything!" Sora said. Light shot from the tip of his blade, hitting the book. In answer, a keyhole appeared in the air, then broke into sparkles of gold – opening a door, through which Kairi, Demyx, and Umi tumbled out, as if shaken from a box.

Immediately on her feet, Umi scowled. "Idiot," she stated, then looked back down at the book. "Now no one's there to guard her memories from getting attacked!"

Sora shook his head, "Hey, I did the best I could!"

Kairi placed a hand on Umi's, "Please calm down. He got us out and that's what matters. Right?"

"I'm perfectly calm," Umi stated blandly and stepped away from Kairi.

The princess of light picked up the diary and got to her feet with Sora's help as Demyx got up on his own.

Scratching his head, Laguna asked, "What just happened?"

"Mister Laguna!" Kairi cheered and dashed around the desk to hug him. "The ship we were on crashed and Umi used Kosuiko to pull us into Aros's diary so we wouldn't get hurt, but then we were stuck there till Sora helped us get out just now."

"Who is Umi? And Kosuiko?" Laguna asked, Ellone looking just as perplexed.

Sora took up the tale now, "Umi is my sister's Soul, Kosuiko is her body."

"Except now," Umi interjected, "I am combined with Kosuiko. I should have the usual powers of a Nobody... which might actually be a bit more useful."

Sighing, Laguna sat back in his chair, "That, unfortunately doesn't really help us find her..."

"No, but at least two thirds of her is here," Umi stated, thawing a little towards him.

"We need to have an all hands meeting to figure out what needs doing next," Laguna continued, "There are other Princes of Darkness that may be causing problems elsewhere, and it would be a good idea to go take care of them before they get too entrenched... avoid making such a big mess as letting Rufus and Kefka have their way did."

Umi nodded, but it was Sora who dashed for the door, "I'll go get the others!" Before anyone could say anything, he was gone.

"You're half of my daughter?" Ellone asked, drawing Umi's attention – just before the blonde girl was grasped in a tight hug.

Surprised, but then gently patting the woman's back, Umi replied, "I wish to be whole. I will do everything in my power to achieve that goal."

Demyx sighed, folding his arms as he leaned against the wall near the door. "Big circles... that's all everything seems to go in. Never really making any progress."

Kairi turned to look up at him and smiled, "But we ARE making progress! One Prince of Darkness is gone."

"Three, more like," Riku stated as he stepped in, having overheard. Delightedly, Kairi threw herself at him for a hug. Easily, he picked her up and continued into the room, his childhood friend's feet dangling above the floor as he walked. She giggled at that.

Behind him was the rest of the group, and as they filed in, Ellone moved behind the desk with Laguna, pulling Umi with her. Squall took a stance on the other side of the room from Laguna, Irvine next to him and Zack, Vincent nearby. When Riku let her down Kairi dropped to a seat on the couch with Selphie after the two of them exchanged hug. Lulu and Yuna took the other couch, Wakka and Tidus standing behind them. Rikku perched on Yuna's shoulder. Khimari and Paine, stuck by the door with Demyx. Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Sora were the last to enter.

"Getting a bit crowded in here," Laguna mused, then grinned, "Alright, as Riku said, we've gotten rid of three Princes of Darkness. But, that leaves four more, which we don't even know the names of."

Yuna, looking down briefly, suddenly stood, "I need to go home," she said, "To my world," looking towards Sora, who nodded to indicate that he remembered his promise to her and Khimari. "I feel that something's gone wrong there."

"Maybe another Prince of Darkness has shown up?" Tidus suggested, then pondered a second, hands on his hips, "Seymour comes to mind."

"Yuna Sent him," Lulu pointed out, "He's finally in the Farplane."

Umi frowned slightly, "If you mean to say that he's dead, then that still doesn't rule out his being back. In Salem, the witches opened the Gates of Hell."

Sora sat up, "Oh yeah, they DID do that..."

"So that would mean that at least one of the Princes was already dead," Lulu concluded.

"Were the gates closed AFTER?" Rikku thought to ask. "Or is it possible that the Organization can pull them right back out again?"

Sora shrugged, "I really don't know. I'd think we would have to go to Hades and see..."

Laguna pondered this, "I think a small force of people who know what's going on should stay here," he said, eyes going towards Squall.

Zack, however, stepped forward, "Mister President, if I may offer my services?"

"Alright," Laguna said, "Glad to have you!"

Sighing, Squall muttered, "Fine. I'll stay."

"Really?" the president enthused, "Yay!"

"...see where Sora gets his personality..." Riku muttered under his breath.

"Sora, you escort Miss Yuna and...whoever else wishes to go with her," Laguna ordered, then looked at Tidus, Wakka, and Lulu, "I'll get things sorted out here. Dual citizenship maybe?" he grinned.

Wakka snorted a laugh, "Ya, sounds good!"

Lulu simply shook her head and sighed.

"So, who else is going with me?" Sora asked, looking around.

"Oh me!" Kairi raised her hand and waved it.

Sora shook his head, "I'd rather that you stayed, Kairi," he admitted.

"I'm staying," Demyx stated, "I've had enough of all this. ...All I ever wanted was to get my heart back, but Xemnas is too power-hungry to get back to fixing _that_ problem and that Gary guy... I don't want to mess with him again."

Laguna nodded, "I'll find a use for you here, then. You won't be meeting Gary unless you have some really bad luck. Okay?"

"I need to get home," Mickey admitted.

"We'll stop by Disney Castle on the way and drop you off," Sora said, then looked towards Donald and Goofy as well, pouting slightly.

"I'm going with you," Umi stated blandly.

Looking around again, Sora ticked off on his fingers, "So that's..."

"I'm going with you too," Riku stated.

"As am I."

Heads turned to look at Vincent and Riku growled, "I don't _need_ adult supervision."

Shaking his head, Laguna admitted, "I need you more here, Mister Valentine. They'll be fine, I'm sure." He grinned, "after all, Riku's with them. He'll keep Sora out of too much trouble."

Riku snorted, a bit of a smile pulling at one corner of his mouth, "Unless I start it. Then I'm just having fun."

Vincent did not look pleased by that comment.

"Mister Valentine," Umi stated, "Is he not your son? You know what you're capable of, correct? Then know that he can take care of himself."

"It's because I know what I'm capable of that I worry," Vincent replied.

Riku rolled his eyes, "What? I've already destroyed a world or two. What's worse than that?"

"Aww, Riku, but you helped fix them!" Sora pointed out, "Wait... what other worlds did you mess up?" This, of course, was said quite innocently.

"...I'll tell you about it later," Riku sighed.

Appeased, at least for now, Sora grinned, "Okay!"

Vincent, however, still did not like the situation, but he turned towards Laguna and nodded. The silver-haired young man folded his arms, inwardly glad that Laguna had gotten his father to back off. Changing the subject, he stated, "Sora, we should get moving, then. Let the President clean up the mess here while we work on cleaning the trash out of the rest of the universe."

Rikku piped up, "Yeah! Those Princes sure _are_ trash! We'll wipe em out for sure!" She sprang into the air and did a back flip cheerfully.

"It's late," Laguna said, "You should all get some rest." He smiled at his son, then looked towards Squall, "Could you take care of the remainder of the cleanup?"

"...whatever." Squall headed for the door, Irvine and Zack following him.

"Sora, you're in charge of getting people settled for the night."

"Okay!"

* * *

"So... how do we _find_ Yuna's world?" Sora had to ask as he and Riku walked down the stairs of the hotel the government had commandeered for the evening. Or something. Sora wasn't quite sure about what exactly had gone on, but he was glad for the full night's rest. He had been running off of adrenaline for quite some time now.

"I've been there." Riku stared straight ahead as he stated that.

"What?" Sora blinked, turning to look at Riku, nearly missing the last crimson carpeted step before the landing. Stumbling he landed without breaking anything and straightened. The hotel itself wasn't the best in town, but it was pretty plush, done in a red-gold design, like a palace.

"I passed through there briefly while looking for you, after getting freed from the Castle that Never Was," Riku admitted, a hint of a smile pulling at his lips as he watched Sora. "It was called Spira. I know that's where Yuna came from because I heard a lot of people talking about her there – and how she's been missing for a while." Riku shook his head, "It should be pretty easy to get there. Especially from here. It's just past Radiant Garden."

Clasping a fist and pumping it, Sora grinned, "Yeah! Thanks Riku! Now we don't have to wander around a whole bunch!"

"Still wish we knew where Kaiyou was," he admitted, "but let's get Yuna home first and then we'll go looking for her."

Shoulders drooping, Sora sighed, then lifted his head again to smile once more. "She's alright, at least. Umi would know if something happened. So would I... and you too, I think," his eyes went to Kaiyou's pendant, now hung on a silver choker at Riku's neck.

Lifting his hand to touch the pendant, Riku stared at Sora, "You think?"

"I think so," Sora repeated. "We should probably go tell the others that we're heading out."

He followed Sora down the last flight of steps and to the front lobby where they found Yuna, Khimari, Rikku, and Paine already waiting. Rikku was perched on Khimari's shoulder. "Where's Tidus and Wakka?" Sora asked, glancing around.

"Behind you," Tidus replied. "So we moving on?"

"Yeah. Riku says he knows where your world is and we can get there pretty easy." Sora gestured towards Riku, who nodded slightly.

Looking around, Sora paused, "Oh, we're missing King Mickey, Goofy and Donald..."

"They're probably talking to Laguna. Maybe making up duties and provisions for that new department," Riku stated blandly, then paused as he looked over his shoulder at something. Whatever it was, he didn't pay attention to it long, for he was looking at Sora again before the brunet even knew that his friend's attention had wandered.

'_Starting to get irritated at his ...hovering.'_

'_Your dad's?'_

Eyes widening, Riku lifted his hand slowly to clasp the pendant as he replied. _'Yeah. Overprotective asshole...'_

'_Hm. At least he cares..?'_ she sounded slightly amused.

'_Kaiyou, where are you?'_

"Riku?" Sora interrupted.

'_...! ...'_

'_What did you say?'_ he called.

Frowning deeply, Riku turned to Sora as Kaiyou's voice, muffled and whispered away before he could get the information. "Aros," he stated, which caught the others' attention. "Didn't get the chance to ask where she was, though."

Sora drooped forward, head hanging, "Aw-man!" straightening, he sighed, "She seems to have a habit of doing that..."

'_Seifer's such an ass!' _

"Seifer?" Riku asked out loud, knowing that his connection to Kaiyou was gone again, "...is an ass? Who's Seifer?"

"Seifer!" Sora gasped, grabbing Riku's shoulders, "She said she's with Seifer?"

Shrugging a little, Riku merely answered blandly, "She just said he's an ass. That was it."

Umi, stepping into the room, her feminine strut so unlike Kaiyou's that it was difficult to imagine her being Kaiyou's Nobody. Her white platform heels clicked across the marble floor as one hand flipped her hair over her shoulder, "It would follow, then that she managed to save at least one person." Umi came to a stop next to Sora, feet apart in a very Amazonian stance.

"Wish she hadn't saved _him_ though," Roxas muttered through Sora's lips, which got Sora looked at in shock by Yuna.

"We should head out," Riku stated, "Umi, where are King Mickey, Donald and Goofy?"

"Coming," Umi replied flatly, "President Laguna had a few things to speak to them about. They'll meet us at the ship."

Nodding firmly, Sora finally let go of Riku and turned towards the others, "Let's go then!"

Yuna, overjoyed at that call, jumped, pumping a fist into the air.

"Wait!"

Turning, Sora was nearly bowled over as Kairi threw herself at him, having come jogging down the stairs as fast as she could. Lifting her head, she looked up at him, blue eyes wide. "Don't... I mean... come back in one piece, okay? Both of you!" Her eyes looked through him and at Roxas.

Smiling at her, Sora nodded, "We will."

Blushing bright pink, Sora scratched the back of his neck nervously and shuffled his feet. "Come _on_ Sora," Riku stated, "You can flirt with Kairi when we get back... And the sooner we leave, the sooner you're back."

Face turning entirely pink, Sora turned and dashed for the door, howling, "I wasn't flirting!"

This, of course, made the entire room burst into laughter. Even Umi seemed amused.

* * *

AN: We're getting close to the end guys! No really! I think it'll be within the next ten or so chapters, too. Additionally, I've got a buffer again and am going to try to keep it so I can update on Wednesdays. I'll say something in an author's note if it doesn't look like I'll make that deadline.

Next Chapter: Memories of a time before, and she thinks the answer could be found in the night sky and sea.


	79. Whole in My Heart

_

* * *

_

Chapter 79

_(Whole in My Heart)_

Finally, it was complete. It had taken them far too much time to build it, in Hojo's estimation, though. Vexen complained that the instructions were impossible to read and Zexion seemed far more interested in standing around posing than in doing any actual work. Somehow, they had gotten their job done. Xemnas had pushed the two Nobodies to finish the Heart-stealing gun swiftly, since whatever Xemnas was planning, required that piece of equipment. But as a result, the lab was an absolute mess except for Hojo's portion of it. Their half was strewn with tools, benches covered in metal bits warped out of recognition, and the final result lying amidst the trash. Hojo's side was much cleaner – mostly due to Lucrecia. His papers were stacked neatly in a notebook, his tools were cleaned and organized on one bench, his electronics on another bench and the inevitable wires and tubes were taped to the floor. Those wires and tubes led to a curtained off area, behind which were seven tall glass tubes in which his specimens floated, hooked up to his monitoring equipment.

Those Nobodies were highly frustrating. Especially since Hojo had his own plans in the works and he was counting on that heart-draining gun to distract his two watchers. At least Lucrecia was capable of doing what she was told without drawing attention to herself.

He had asked that they find her some time ago, nearly around the time they had recruited him. He had not expected that they would. However, Hojo was still pleased with the result and had put her to work immediately, keeping track of his latest project's progress. He had finally gotten his seven specimens stabilized. They weren't pretty to look at for the most part, but he had never been interested in aesthetics. However... he was not very pleased with the final one, even if it seemed like the most promising of the lot.

"Have you had any success yet?" Vexen asked, sounding bland, yet testy at the same time. Hojo cast the Nobody a dark look.

"Don't meddle in my business," he warned.

"The Remembrance Extraction project was what you were brought here to do. It _is_ our business," Vexen paced closer, moving to invade Hojo's space.

Irritated, Hojo turned towards the Nobody. "The project is progressing. Be off with you."

Vexen stared at him unblinkingly. Suddenly, he moved away, stalking towards the curtain that led to Hojo's sectioned off area, containing seven large tubes.

Ripping the curtain aside, Vexen stared, then whirled to face Hojo. "You call this progress?" he demanded. "I should have known you would fail at this, just as you failed to create what you were tasked to do for Shinra."

"You have no appreciation for Science," Hojo snarled in return, reaching beneath his lab coat to the breast holster.

"That will do nothing to me," Vexen replied, even as Hojo took aim and pulled the trigger.

The lights flickered as the pulse of energy blasted across the room. Vexen slammed against one of the tubes – the seventh – cracking it. Dark matter splattered across the tube and floor and began to evaporate as Vexen struggled to get back to his feet.

RE-7 opened its eyes and gazed down impassively.

"You underestimate me," Hojo sneered as he stalked closer, gun still trained on Vexen. It was a special model he had developed and built with the extra wasted parts Vexen and Zexion had turned out. It was a crude thing that gathered life-energy around it passively, then blasted it explosively when the trigger was pulled. "I'm not afraid to eliminate nuisances." Taking aim, he fired a second shot that splattered the tank with dark energy that quickly evaporated. There were cracks in the glass though and fluid was draining from the tank swiftly.

As Vexen's body disappeared, Hojo muttered a curse. "My most promising..."

"I knew you would turn traitor," another voice made Hojo pause, and turning swiftly, gun raised, Hojo took aim at Zexion.

Unfortunately, the Nobody was prepared for the attack and dodged, summoning his whip of thorns. Deftly, Hojo ducked for cover behind the partially broken seventh tube. The glass finally shattered as Zexion's whip connected with it, and the scientist whipped back out to fire his gun. The shot missed again, flying across the room to hit the lockers, warping them into a crumpled mess that sagged to the floor with a loud crash.

Zexion had teleported in a flash of dark energy two feet over, narrowly missing the edge of the blast. Arm swinging, his whip curled around to narrowly avoid Hojo's head as the scientist ducked. The whip smashed into the bench beside him as Hojo made a dash across the room. Tools and papers scattered across the floor.

His shot went wild as Zexion suddenly teleported beside him, slamming his shoulder into Hojo's side. The top of the second tube was blown off, the glass shattering and sending slick slime across the floor amidst the trailing wires.

Slipping in the goo, Hojo slid across the floor on his back, bringing his gun to bear on Zexion. Again, his shot missed, hitting the light fixture, which brought what was left of it to the floor with a loud crash. This was certainly not going to be swept under the rug.

The Nobody was upon him then, and point-blank, Hojo pulled the trigger, the anti-energy warping the Nobody's essence, as well as the air between them. Screaming in pain as a hole was torn straight through his torso. It was only a moment later that the remainder of his body disappeared in wafts of black thorns that shredded to pieces in the aftermath.

"Doubt you'll be coming back from that," Hojo sneered and slowly got to his feet, realizing belatedly that he had been wounded by the blast as well. Blood dripped down his face into his eyes as he stood. His attempts to wipe it away were thwarted by the glass shards in his sleeve and giving up, he turned to survey the damage.

The liquid had short circuited the remaining undamaged tubes, but a visual check revealed that all seven specimens were still alive. His seventh was curled on the bottom in the remains of its tank. The second would need some emergency surgery to repair the damage the glass had done.

"Hojo!"

Thankfully, this voice was welcome and he turned to look as Lucrecia picked her way across the mess. How or why she wore heels in a lab, he would never know or understand. Not that he cared to. She served her purpose and that was all he really cared about. "I need to get them to my new lab," he stated, "You have it ready?"

"Yes," Lucrecia said, her blue-green eyes turned towards RE-7.

* * *

They had been walking for hours and as they continued to follow Auron. He had said something fairly early when he had woken them all up about wanting to check something. It was a minor detour, or so he'd given the impression, but as they continued walking, the air got colder until snow finally appeared, spikes of ice jutting out of the landscape in jagged tears, as if the land itself were trying to attack the sky. Kaiyou shuddered, feeing a sense of déjà vu, as if she had seen this landscape before. Along the walk, she had gotten more withdrawn and quiet, pulling silence around herself like a blanket. She walked at the front of the pack – behind Auron – trying to ignore the chattering of teeth behind her, trying to retain some kind of control over her own emotions.

"So what's all this about another brother?" Hayner asked. Kaiyou yelped and turned to look at him, finding that he had snuck up beside her on the left. Olette and Pence had come up on the right, enfolding her in their group.

"...What're you talking about?" she asked, regaining her wits.

"Sora never mentioned that he had any siblings," Olette put in, coming closer to join the conversation.

Looking down at the ground briefly as she made sure of her footing, having just nearly slipped, Kaiyou paused before answering, "Well, I've technically got three," she admitted. "Sora is my twin, Roxas is Sora's Nobody, but he's an individual and makes it difficult to forget that he's there too. Then there's... Leon. Or Squall, though he's going by Leon currently..." Glowering, she concluded, "He and Seifer deserve each other."

Hayner glanced at Seifer, then back to Kaiyou, "What's he done to you?"

"Just... called me an 'it' to my face, referred to me as a tool to be used..." Kaiyou swallowed her anger at remembering that, then shook her head, "I... really am sorry about lying. But I didn't know who I was for quite some time. First everyone called me Sora, then they started calling me some sort of clone of Sora, now I'm his sister? I've just given up trying to figure out what's going on. Really isn't any point, you know?"

Pence snorted, having overheard, "Who knows, it might change tomorrow?" he offered.

"Exactly," Kaiyou agreed, "all I know for sure is that... there's a war being fought over me and I really don't want any part of it."

"I wouldn't either," Hayner admitted.

"So what're we going to this uh, Temple for?" Hayner added after a few more moments of silent.

"I don't know," Kaiyou replied, "Auron may talk to me more than he's talked to anyone else, but he's got this thing about stories and secrets and rarely says anything really important – as far as I can tell anyway. I'm no cryptographer, I can't like, decipher his codes and stuff." She wiggled her fingers as if doing magic.

Olette giggled.

Biting her lips together, Kaiyou finally said something she'd been meaning to say for quite some time. "I'm sorry about your home too... I don't think there's anything that can be done to fix it, or give it back to you... I understand what it's like to lose everything you've ever known and loved. I... I've done it at least once a year for most of my life." Looking towards Hayner, then Olette, then Pence, "But you guys are alive, so it's possible to move on. Remember the ones you lost, but don't let it consume you. There's still hope for the future – if you just hang on to it hard enough."

'_Starting to get tired of his... hovering...'_ Kaiyou blinked as she overheard the Twilight thought.

'_Who? Your dad?' _she asked in return. There was no answer to that, so she assumed that the answer was yes. _'Hm. At least he cares?'_ she offered. He said nothing more after that and Kaiyou turned her attention back to her surroundings to find that she hadn't missed anything in her distraction

Hayner was staring straight ahead, Olette was looking at the ground, as was Pence. "I'm not going to give up," Hayner said after a long moment. "I want to help kick their butts – whoever did it."

"Kicking their rears personally may not be an option for you," Kaiyou had to admit, being brutally honest, "You could barely handle dusks. The ones responsible have been Sora's enemies for several years now and he's yet to kill them permanently. You can, however, help foil their plans. You already have – just by living." Flexing her fingers, Kaiyou lifted her chin and said, "Just fight the things you can defeat – push yourselves to become better, and don't stray from the path of light."

"Ohh, how _romantic_," Seifer sneered.

Looking back at him, Kaiyou scowled. "Go blow yourself, jerk."

'_What did you say?'_ Riku asked.

'_Seifer's such an ass!'_ she shouted to whoever was listening. Hayner scowled at Seifer as well.

"We're here," Auron stated, coming to a stop ahead of them, interrupting the fight before it could break out. As one, the group turned to look up.

The temple was a fantastic design – suspended from a ceiling of ice, the only way to gain entrance was by a bridge, also of ice, that spanned a deep gulf of icy darkness. They were standing at the beginning of the icy bridge. The building itself was designed with spires and spikes poking out from nearly every angle, almost like a conch shell – or at least, that was what Kaiyou thought it looked like. The building was also painted quite brightly in yellows, reds and oranges. It really stood out from its scenery, but not like a sore thumb.

Olette automatically gripped Kaiyou's arm, latching on tightly.

"Not scared of heights are you?" Kaiyou teased gently. Olette looked up at her.

"It's just... so far down... and... slippery."

Nodding, Kaiyou stared at the ice, "I know how to move on ice," she reassured, "I won't let you slip off."

Smiling up at Kaiyou, Olette hugged tighter briefly, then looked towards the temple.

"Hey! Old man, why are we here anyway?" Seifer asked, pushing past Kaiyou and Hayner. Hayner stumbled a bit and glared.

"We're here to check something," Auron replied. "I would have gone by myself..." he looked back over his shoulder at the group, "But you needed my help more." Seifer bristled and Hayner snorted at the implication of Auron's statement. Kaiyou nodded agreement.

"Hey..." Pence said suddenly.

"What?" Hayner asked, turning to look at his dark-haired pudgy friend.

"...does anyone else hear that singing?"

* * *

The icy motif continued throughout the strange temple, the high-vaulted ceilings had icicles large enough to kill a man, the floor was more than a little slick, even for Kaiyou. The statues set around the perimeter of the room were coated in ice, and Kaiyou paused to stare at the five statues that stood largest out of all of the others.

Olette, shivering, stuck close to Kaiyou, despite the fact that Kaiyou wasn't much warmer. Perhaps it was just a girl thing. Fuu was doing her best to pretend like the cold wasn't bothering her, but her lips were turning blue. Even Seifer was obviously cold.

Vivi was the only one who didn't seem to have a problem with the temperature.

"Can we get out of here?" Seifer asked, "This place blows."

Auron turned a chilly gaze on the young man. "I just need to check something."

Without waiting for any further argument from the teens he was escorting, Auron strode towards a set of stairs at the back of the large, round front hall. Kaiyou carefully picked her way across the slippery floor, following Auron with Olette clinging to her arm. This would have been so much easier with the right shoes.

Beyond the double doors at the top of the stairs was a hall that led to an icy bridge.

The bridge ended in another, though smaller, circular room, which, once they had all gathered in the center of, turned out to be an elevator. Olette yelped and clutched Kaiyou slightly tighter and Kaiyou tried to ignore the glower Seifer had turned on her. _'...What in the world has gotten his knickers in a twist?'_ she wondered.

As they descended in the elevator, the singing that Pence had noted before gradually increased in volume until they reached their destination – another large circular chamber, this time empty except for a pedestal with a strange statue embedded into the floor. The singing was from a female alto and seemed to be coming from the area of the statue.

Unafraid, Auron walked directly up to the statue and stood at the very edge of it, looking down. "Aros," he called, "Come here."

For a moment, Kaiyou contemplated staying where she was, but after Olette released her and wrapped her arms around herself instead, Kaiyou stepped forward. Walking cautiously across the slippery floor, and up the two steps to stand beside Auron, Kaiyou gazed down at the statue as well.

The statue was circular with what appeared to be a glass dome over it protecting it should someone accidentally fall onto it. A woman in a sort of sprawl on her stomach with her legs curled in was wrapped artistically in a cloth of stone, covering her rear but not much else important. Not that anything really showed from the angle she had been carved into. She almost looked as if she had been a person once, but dropped into the rock and made one with the stone.

"...Nice? Who's the artist?"

"The Fayth..." Auron turned to look towards her, "Do you sense anything?"

Sighing, Kaiyou lifted her eyes, "Using me too?"

"For a good cause. And not in the capacity Seymour wants."

Again, she heaved a sigh and lifted her hand to her chest as she closed her eyes. "Don't amplify," Auron interrupted. "Just sense."

"Okay."

Taking a breath, she lowered her barriers a little, "I'm feeling Light," she replied finally. "That may be from you, though."

"I'm sure that if there was Darkness coming from that," he gestured towards the strange statue, "You would feel it."

Kaiyou frowned slightly, "You're saying it's alive... and has a heart?" Kneeling on the cold stone, Kaiyou put her hand to the glass, or whatever it was and tried again. Sitting back, Kaiyou pulled her hand away quickly, "That's... a person!" she said, voice echoing. The others turned to look at her.

"What?" Seifer asked, striding over.

"It's a Fayth. They are the source of the Summons on this world," Auron supplied. "We had to Send them all..."

Hayner stepped forward, "What?"

"Send..." Kaiyou said slowly, "Wait. That's what you do with the dead, isn't it?" She stood as Auron nodded.

Seifer interrupted, "So, was that it?" He glowered around. "This place really blows."

Auron turned, heading down the stairs, "Yes, I've seen what I wanted to."

For a moment, Kaiyou remained where she was, staring down at the statue... Fayth. If they had been Sent, and now they were back, what did that mean? Did it mean anything? She wasn't really sure.

Finally turning away and heading after Auron, Kaiyou sighed. Hopefully their next destination would be warmer.

* * *

The ride back to Disney Castle was rather uneventful. Gumispace had gotten a lot clearer lately – since Maleficent's destruction. The Heartless seemed to have been broken and were now just random threats rather than a concentrated force. For that, Riku was glad. Sora might take it for granted, but Riku at least knew personally what kind of threat the Heartless could be when they were organized.

Thus, with Maleficent out of the way, the Heartless were no longer a major threat.

Gary, however...

They were on their way to Spira, Sora following Riku's directions, Riku now manning the weapons with Yuna at the ship operations station. While the Estharian ship wasn't quite the same as a gummiship, some functions were nearly identical. Switching over wasn't that difficult once Riku had taken a test-run through all the controls.

Unfortunately, unlike a gummiship, this ship had to be landed, rather than teleported to and from. Riku didn't much like that, since it meant that their ship could be boarded, or blockaded, and if they got shot down, there wasn't an emergency escape route.

What it did have was room, though.

The ship was shaped almost like a raptor with forward swooping wings and flowing lines back to a fanned tail. However, the red and white paint reminded Riku of a sports car more than any official vehicle to represent Esthar to extraterrestrial powers. Riku suspected he was likely going to be in the new department Sora was now head of. If he knew his friend at all, he knew he was likely to get appointed to some position of authority.

It amused Riku to imagine an organization like SeeD taking care of extraterrestrial affairs. Perhaps a portion of SeeD might get folded into the operation; a force that would go to the aid of ally worlds in the event of a concentrated Heartless or Nobody attack.

However, he was pulled from his thoughts by the announcement, "We're _home_!"

Rikku zipped around the bridge in excitement, squealing in her tiny high-pitched voice. Yuna gave a cheer as well, and Riku looked over to spot on the main-screen, the world Yuna had come from.

"Alright, I'm starting preparations for landing," Sora called, "Take a seat everyone!"

At that call, even Khimari found somewhere to brace himself as the ship paused over the atmosphere of the planet. "Where should I land it?" Sora asked after a moment, and the ship began shaking as he slowed it to enter the atmosphere.

"Lucca... it's right... here," she highlighted the place on the screen and Sora nodded.

"Okay. I'll aim us for there."

The shaking increased in intensity as they dipped further into the atmosphere. Fire crept up the windows outside.

It was over within a few seconds and they were in slightly cloudy blue skies, sailing over the ocean. Checking his readings, Sora changed their direction slightly and lowered altitude, guiding them towards Yuna's chosen destination.

"Sora, don't just go kiting into dock," Riku stated, "There's probably some kind of order people go in, or routine."

Touching down in the water, Sora came to a full stop some distance out from the port. "Then how do we get into town?"

"There's a dock open there," Yuna said, "I'll smooth things over with the port authorities when we get there." She cast a smile at Sora.

Nodding, he turned back towards his controls and carefully revved the engines, moving them towards the open dock.

Out the windows, Riku could see people staring at the strange ship; as if they had never seen anything like it before. Considering that most of their ships seemed to be sailboats, or paddleboats, he wasn't surprised if they had never seen a ship like theirs before. If they had, then it probably wasn't a very frequent sight.

Stretching his arms over his head, Riku stood once Sora had docked the ship – having to arch the wing over the dock in order to get the hull close enough for them to disembark. Yuna was already on her feet and dashing towards the hatch, Rikku was not that far behind. Paine and Khimari followed after, as if quite used to this kind of behavior from their friends.

Riku supposed they probably were and got to his feet, looking towards Sora, only to find that his friend was already jogging out of the bridge as well. Last out, Riku made sure everything was secure before making his way out into the summer sunshine of Spira.

Lucca was just the same as the last time he had seen it, on his brief visit after escaping from the Castle that Never Was.

'_Was that really only a week or so ago?'_

He couldn't remember the days, though he knew the frantic sequence of events that had led them to their present situation. "Woah," Sora said as Riku came to stand beside him on the dock. "That's a really big building. I wonder what it's for?"

"Blitzball!" Wakka supplied, having finally made his way out of the ship. Where he had been during the flight, Riku wasn't sure, but figured it was probably the kitchen. Or, considering that Lulu's hair looked a little mussed...

He put that thought out of his mind swiftly.

'_Just because the one I want to make out with isn't here...'_ he grouched mentally.

"What's the face for?" Sora asked, grinning up at Riku. From the corner of his eye, he spotted Umi, striding along the dock, hips swaying in a way that Kaiyou had forcefully trimmed from her walk. Her hair caught the sunlight and breeze, swaying behind her in a shining mass. But Umi was not Kaiyou. Not all of her. Umi was merely her soul, and while Riku decided that he liked Umi a lot, he wanted the whole package. _'I want that long hair to be brunet. I want that stride. I want that confidence, but I want Kosuiko's wounded innocence, and Aros's determination and loyalty...'_

"Nothing." Striding away from his shorter friend, he headed down the dock towards the port authorities who were speaking to Yuna. Tidus busted past at a run, skidding to a stop next to Yuna, grinning broadly, Rikku was still twirling circles in the air above them all.

"-can't dock there," the port official was saying as Riku came into hearing range.

"Hey, don't you know who she is?" Tidus interrupted, before Yuna could get a word in. She smiled as they looked at her.

Suddenly, they backed away a step and did some strange hand gesture with a bow, "High Summoner!" the port official stammered, "We're very sorry. Of course you can dock your ship here."

Yuna smiled even more broadly, linking her hands behind her as she tapped the toe of her boot on the ground behind her, "Thank you. The ship shouldn't be there long." She glanced towards Sora as the brunet joined the group, along with Wakka and Lulu. "Sora, would you like a tour of the town before you go?"

Looking past her and up and down the docks, Sora grinned, "Yeah!"

Turning her blue and green eyes on Riku, Yuna silently inquired of him. "Not like I can leave without him," he grunted, pointing at Sora. "And _someone_ has to keep him out of trouble."

She broke into a giggle, Tidus sniggered as well. Wakka outright crowed a laugh.

Turning to look at the port authorities, Yuna smiled at them again and skipped past, like she was a law unto herself. Given the way the men quickly stepped out of the way, Riku suspected Yuna _was_ a law unto herself, whatever she was.

* * *

It had taken several more hours, to get to town... the city... and it was nothing like Kaiyou had ever seen before. Again, remembering her camera, she took a picture of it from the rise some distance from the place, catching the tall central spire light by sunset. Auron had led them out of the lands of ice without incident, except for a random fight against some monsters that Auron called Fiends. He said they were the Unsent souls of the dead who were unable to accept their fates.

There had been some difficulty in getting a place on a ship for so many this late in the day, but Auron had claimed to be someone important and they had gotten aboard a ship as the sun sank past the horizon. Now Kaiyou was lying in some scratchy blankets on the floor in a small cabin. She and Fuu had agreed to let Olette have the bed – what there was of one – and had taken spots on the floor. Fuu had claimed the spot next to the door.

_"I love you, Ki'you!"_ a distant voice rattled through the emptiness of her mind. The remnants of a dream she'd had in the brief hour of sleep she had gotten. Something about the rocking of the ship had lulled her into sleet despite her discomfort and worry.

_"Promise you'll always wear it, Sora?"_ She asked, watching as he pulled the necklace over his head, the simplistic three-pronged silver crown glittering in the sunlight as a familiar scene flooded her mind. This was a memory, Kaiyou knew. One from long ago – before she had been discovered at that car wreck in Okinawa.

She and Sora were on the play island which she now realized was the site of the graveyard for her memories, but the day in this dream was bright. The sky and sea were nearly the same brilliant blue, and on the horizon, she could hardly tell where one ended and the other began.

_"I promise!"_

In her heart, she felt something stir, something long-forgotten. Opening her eyes, she stared at the ceiling.

Sliding her feet out from beneath the blanket, she pulled her shoes on silently and crept out of the room, carefully stepping over Fuu, though she was sure she had probably woken the girl.

'_I need fresh air.'_ She sighed softly once she was in the hall. Heading up to the deck, she stepped into a sea of stars – the clear sky reflected in the water.

Her hand lifted, reaching for her pendant – finding it not there.

'_Lonely?'_ It was Riku's voice this time.

'_A little,'_ she admitted moving to lean against the railing. _'I want this to be over.'_

'_Where are you?'_

'_Some place called... Spira,'_ she admitted.

'_Hah!'_

Frowning slightly, she clasped the railing with a frown pulling her lips.

"You shouldn't wander out alone."

Turning, Kaiyou looked at Auron. "I'm a big girl, I can handle myself... besides, don't you ever sleep?"

The look he gave her was an odd, unreadable one, but he moved to stand next to her, his unused sleeve flapping in the wind. "The dead don't need sleep."

Kaiyou stared at him, "You're creepy. You know that, right?"

He snorted in amusement.

"Yeah, I figured," she concluded and looked out across the sea again, _'Riku?'_ she called again.

'_Kaiyou!'_ this time, it was Sora who answered, sounding a little panicked. _'Are you alright?'_

'_Yeah. I'm fine,'_ she replied with a mental sigh.

He was quite overjoyed at that, but after a moment, she put in, _'You know... you seem a lot clearer tonight. Closer... Is Riku with you?'_

'_Yeah.'_ There was a moment of silence, and Auron was staring at her. _'You're on Spira! That's great! Where?'_

Frowning slightly, Kaiyou replied, _'We're going to Lucca.'_

'_We'll meet you there!'_

"Are you alright?" Auron asked, finally getting her attention again.

"Yeah, I was just talking to Sora. He's going to meet us in Lucca." She shook her head, "at least I've got a ride out of here now. Maybe we'll get lucky and take Seymour with us so you guys won't have to deal with him any longer."

"How kind of you."

Kaiyou cast Auron an annoyed look.

"I've dealt with Seymour before," he added, "He can be dealt with again.

'_I'm so glad you're alright – and that we found you!'_ Sora was gushing now. _'How did you survive the crash?'_

Sighing, Kaiyou closed her eyes to concentrate on Sora's voice, deciding he was more important to deal with at the moment. _'Teleported out... I have to find Kairi, Demyx and Kosuiko though...'_

'_They're fine. Umi took them into your diary. I got them out. Umi's here too!'_

It really was odd. He sounded quite clear... As if the connection had stabilized. _'Sora. Has something changed?'_

'_What? – oh, well, the bracer you gave me disappeared.'_

Kaiyou paused at that. The bracer... She had given it to him so he would be protected from Gary, but it had been part of her heart. ...The part that had contained her memories of Sora before!

Opening her eyes, she stared out across the water. "My heart is whole," she whispered, dread and joy warring for dominance.

Wrapping her fingers tighter around the railing, she listened as Auron added, "It's going to get more dangerous now."

"My thought exactly."

Gazing down at her from beneath his glasses, Auron replied, "You have allies." He lifted a hand and removed the shades. "They will throw themselves between you and danger."

"That's what scares me. ...I've lost so many things over the years. I'm finally this close to being happy and having what I want. Except... If they go and put themselves in danger just to save me... That will only hurt me more."

Auron fell silent at that, thinking on it for a long moment before he finally answered. "You can't live your life, always afraid to lose. You have to fight if you want to hold on to the ones you love."

Staring out across the ocean, the boundary between the sky and sea blurred by the darkness, Kaiyou felt as if she nearly had the answer.

'_Riku?'_ she called again, hoping that she had not lost her connection to him.

'_Yes?'_

Her breathing eased. _'Just making sure...'_

Somehow, she could tell he was pleased, _'Get some rest,'_ he told her, _'Tomorrow you're going to have to deal with Sora.'_

Breaking into a laugh, Kaiyou covered her mouth. _'Your right! He's like a golden retriever when he's happy.'_

'_Huh?'_

'_Sora, she just called you a dog,'_ Riku informed her brother.

'_All wagging tail and jumpy and slobbery kisses,'_ Kaiyou agreed.

'_Am not!'_

Still laughing silently, Kaiyou pushed off the railing, "I'm going back to bed now. Thanks for the pep talk... I think I'll be alright. Whatever happens tomorrow."

AN: woo. on schedule still!

Next Chapter: Conduction of confusion - who's the puppet and for whom?


	80. Conduction of Confusion

_Chapter 80_

_(Conduction of Confusion)_

Sora waited impatiently on the end of the dock his ship was parked on, hand shading his eyes as he watched the ships coming in. Beside him, sitting with her feet dangling over the edge was Umi, leaning back on her hands in a pose that reminded Riku of Kairi and Sora in their days before the Darkness had come.

The day had been quiet and much of the population had disappeared from the streets, though there were the sounds of a crowd over in the stadium. Yuna, after her tour the day before, had left them at their ship and given them permission to stay there for the night. Riku had not seen them since. Part of him was sad. He had grown up with Tidus, Wakka, and Lulu. He rather liked them, even if they weren't quite the same caliber of friend as Sora and Kairi were. He had not slept well that night, lying awake, thinking of all the changes that had come during the short time since Kaiyou's appearance. Sora had been too excited to sleep once Umi had stated that the disappearance of his bracer meant that Kaiyou's heart was whole. As a result, the pair of them were slightly tired. Umi... was unreadable as ever.

Striding up to stand beside Sora, Riku eyed his friend, "It's lunch time," he pointed out, "And you hardly ate breakfast. I doubt she'll be able to miss our ship. She'll be coming here anyway."

Turning to look, Sora pouted slightly, "I guess you're right..."

Finally, Sora gave up his search and headed towards the ship, following Riku. He paused as he realized Umi was not following and turned to look back for her. "Umi? You coming?"

Umi turned her head to stare at him expressionlessly, then stood and followed.

"You should take care of yourself too, Umi," Riku stated, "Doubt Kaiyou will like coming back to a half-starved body."

Staring at him now, Umi's expression thawed and her lips curled at the corners before she swept past them both, heading towards the ship.

An explosion made them pause and look towards the stadium.

A chorus of screams went up and before Riku could even blink, Sora was running towards the sound. Exchanging a look with Umi, the pair of them took off after him.

Dashing up the stairs to the stadium, the three were met by a stampede of people, trying to exit the stadium. Pulling Sora back against the wall, Riku narrowly avoided getting knocked down and trampled by the herd. For a moment, they were stuck there, trying to avoid getting carried away by the crowd.

Umi suddenly stepped over him, and Riku looked up, blush creeping across his cheeks as he found she was wearing white. She didn't notice, and continued walking along the railing, bracing herself against the wall until she got a clear spot and broke into a run. Sora was after her a second later and Riku brought up the rear, dashing along the railing towards the doors.

The first rush had passed and they got the break they needed to slip into the stadium. Dashing along the halls, occasionally dodging people in the chaos, the three of them broke out into the seating to find even more pandemonium.

* * *

The night had been calm, with a stiff breeze filling the sails, which had made the journey to Lucca quite easy. Kaiyou, however, still had a few misgivings about how easy things had been since getting away from Seymour. She just did not like it.

"He should have attacked by now," she muttered beneath her breath as she stood on the deck, waiting for the sailors to finish bringing them into port.

Pence and Vivi were at the back of the boat while Rai and Fuu were on the upper deck. Kaiyou had not seen Auron since the evening before and was not surprised that he was missing. Seifer was standing next to Olette on the prow of the ship. Whatever conversation he was having with her appeared to be civil, so Kaiyou stayed out of it. Hayner was standing next to Kaiyou, though, fuming, but had yet to admit that it bothered him.

"Why don't you make moves on Fuu?" Kaiyou suggested, partially teasing, partially hoping for some distraction from her gloomy thoughts.

Hayner started and turned to look at Kaiyou, "What?" he yelped.

"You heard me. If seeing Seifer and Olette getting along bothers you so much, go hit on Fuu." Rubbing her temples a little, Kaiyou sighed and continued, "Or not... Seriously, Hayner. Seifer's had a thing going for Olette since we left Twilight Town. He's been pissed at me because she wanted to hang out with me more than she wanted anything to do with him. Leave him alone – maybe he'll figure out if he really likes her or not and quit taking out his frustrations on us?"

Looking towards Olette and Seifer, Hayner paused, then looked down at his feet, at the decking below them, scrubbing his shoe against the wood. Kaiyou eyed Hayner for a long moment before folding his arms and lifting his chin, "I just don't like him and Olette's my friend."

"So," Kaiyou mused for a second and turned her back to lean against the railing, a smile playing on her lips, "You'd rather Olette was unhappy than dating someone you don't like?"

This threw another wrench into Hayner's thoughts and he stared at her. "But – you don't like him either!"

"My feelings mean nothing. It's _her_ feelings that matter. Seifer's an ass, but if she finds she likes him, then who are we to tell her she can't date him? As her friend, we can tell her we don't like him, but beyond that, all we can do is be there for her." Kaiyou spread her hands. "Trying to control her and her will only piss her off. Regardless of your intentions."

For a very long moment, Hayner had nothing to say to that. He simply stood there, staring at her, before finally looking towards Seifer and Olette – just in time to see Olette break into a laugh. "I... guess you're right," Hayner admitted finally.

Kaiyou nodded and turned to face the sea once more, staring at Lucca.

"We still need to figure out a way out of here," Hayner said.

Lifting her hand, Kaiyou pointed, "That red and white thing."

"What?"

"Sora's ship."

Rounding on her, Hayner grasped her shoulder, "What did you say?"

Turning partially to give him a look, she flashed a brief grin, "Sorry, everyone was asleep when he contacted me."

His eyes narrowed, "What do you mean contacted you? You've been talking to him the entire time?"

"No," Kaiyou pushed his hand off and sighed, "It comes and goes... We're twins – connected at the heart. I've had a few moments of contact with him since we got here, but last night... the connection became clearer. He said he'd meet us in Lucca, since he was here dropping off some people."

Hayner shoved his hands into his hair. "Argh! You're so frustrating sometimes!"

Unable to help it, Kaiyou laughed softly, "Sorry, I've got an extra X chromosome, being frustrating comes with the package."

Pausing, Hayner stared at her, then burst out laughing as well.

"Hey, what's so funny?"

Turning, Hayner and Kaiyou found Pence and Vivi standing next to them. "Aros," Hayner admitted. Kaiyou shrugged with a small smile. "Guess what guys!" he burst out with, "Sora's here – he's got a ship and is meeting us in town!" He gestured towards Lucca.

"Good," another voice stated, and the teens turned to look up at Auron as he strode towards them, "I'll escort you to his ship. We can disembark now."

"Yeah!" Hayner called, dashing towards the gangplank. Pence jogged after with Vivi hesitating before following. Kaiyou remained where she was a moment more, her smile fading.

"I just... feel like Seymour's planning something."

"Probably," Auron agreed and turned away, starting off after his charges. She followed a second after, knowing better than to be caught by herself.

'_Is this how life will always be?'_ she wondered and sighed softly. Stepping off the boat, she looked up as an explosion went off near the center of town. "Well, that's probably where Sora is," she stated blandly as the others jumped.

After a second, Hayner grinned, "Probably."

"I'm afraid you're going to have to let them deal with their own problems," Auron stated, and pointed ahead.

"Oh," Kaiyou sighed, turning to look at what Auron was pointing at.

Seymour, wearing the same robes she had last seen him in, was standing at the end, blocking their escape.

"I knew it wasn't finished with him," Kaiyou stated.

"No. He's quite persistent," Auron agreed and reached back shoving his sleeve off his left arm as he drew his sword.

Lifting his hands out, Seymour smiled at them. Around him, globes of multicolored light flickered and twirled, swirling together to become strange dog-like creatures. Kaiyou quickly counted them. Six, plus Seymour.

Seifer snorted, "Easy!"

"I hope those aren't famous last words," Kaiyou replied blandly and drew her keyblade.

As one, the dog-fiends leapt forward and Kaiyou stepped back into a stance, keyblade ready. Springing back, she narrowly avoided getting bitten by the fiend that had attacked her first. Suddenly, fire exploded around her. The fire reflected off her permanent shield and hit the dog, giving her the chance to strike it down swiftly. The dog yelped in pain, dissipating in a puff of soul-balls.

Seifer was the next to engage the enemy, his sword slicing the dog in a diagonal strike upwards, which he followed with a horizontal to the left. The dog's body fell to the ground and rolled a bit before disappearing.

Olette and Pence immediately made a run for safety, climbing onto some boxes that were piled on the dock.

Vivi threw his hands forward again, fire flickering between them for a moment before it bounced off Kaiyou's shield once again to hit the dog next to her – just as Rai leapt over and slammed his foot into the beast's side, sending it over the edge of the dock and into the water.

Now that his way was clear, Seifer made a run for Seymour, swinging his blade in a hard diagonal strike – only to wince as the blade hit the air and bounced off.

Deciding to ignore the dogs, Auron burst past the pack hefting his sword behind him. It was a weird weapon, nearly as long as he, with a hook at the end like a can opener. Or at least, Kaiyou thought it looked like one. He dodged a dog as it snapped at his robes and leapt over another before reaching Seymour, and without really stopping, Auron swung his sword over his shoulder. The blade slammed into the air a short distance from Seymour and stopped briefly before the air suddenly gave way in a shattering crash.

Seymour staggered, the backed away a step, lifting his hands – summoning more of those mysterious soul-balls. Five more dogs replaced the three that had already died.

Kaiyou dodged aside from a dog's attack and turned to follow it with a kick. Again, fire exploded off her shield, catching the dog that had made a jump for her back. Hayner stepped in, slapping the fiend aside with his borrowed keyblade. Rai finished off the dog Kaiyou had been attacking with a downward punch to its head. A chakra sliced past Kaiyou's shoulder to burry into the head of another fiend, killing the last of the original three. Dreading what she would find when she turned around, Kaiyou looked over her shoulder cautiously to find that Auron had not been idle either.

He was busy working with Seifer to get past Seymour's guard. Yet it seemed every time they broke his shield, another one went up.

Seymour, meanwhile, was smiling, softly laughing at them all as he remained untouched. Lifting his hands in a familiar gesture, Kaiyou groaned as he called five more fiends.

Before his newly summoned hench-fiends could attack, the dead Summoner lifted his hands again, "I'll destroy you all," he intoned, "Anima! Feel my pain!"

"No!"

Terror ran down Kaiyou's back at that voice.

From a portal of Darkness, Gary leapt, lashing out at Seymour, slashing the older man across the stomach with Obsidian Heart. Kaiyou stared in shock and horror – completely oblivious to the dog-fiend that had launched itself at her head.

Quickly shoving her aside, Hayner brought his borrowed keyblade around and slapped the dog from the air, sending it rolling across the dock. "Aros! Pay attention!"

Slowly getting to her feet again, Kaiyou stared at Hayner, then looked back towards Gary – who was now teaming up with Auron to prevent Seymour from calling upon Anima, whatever that was. Fuu and Rai were not immobilized by the sudden appearance of what seemed a new ally. In fact, Olette and Pence cheered. Slamming a fist into the mouth of one of the fiends, Rai threw the beast across the dock – and nearly before his wounds could bleed, Olette had thrown a potion at him. Fuu, having retrieved her chakra, leapt over one of the dogs and turned, slashing with her weapons down its back. A moment later, the beast exploded into several soul-balls.

Gary blocked Seymour's ice spell with a slash of Obsidian Heart, then dodged as the Summoner directed a dog at him. Auron leapt in while Seymour was distracted, breaking his shield, and Seifer followed up with a slash that staggered their enemy. Gary was fast to follow, his sword drawing black liquid.

"But... but..." Kaiyou whispered, completely shell shocked as Auron moved in for a strike, knocking Seymour back again, despite the sorcerer's quickly raised shield. Gary disappeared in black shadow-smoke to reappear behind Seymour, wrapping an arm around the blue-haired man's neck. Obsidian Heart stabbing through Seymour's chest.

Lifting his eyes, Gary turned a charming smile on Kaiyou and leaping back, dragged Seymour into a dark portal before Auron could attack again.

The two remaining dogs died quickly as Seifer and Auron turned their attention to the Fiends. The rest had been taken care of during Kaiyou's distraction.

"Who was that man?" Pence asked.

Kaiyou trembled. "Evil – pure evil distilled and pressed and the evilest of evil extracted and chemically scrubbed of anything remotely resembling humanity." Her voice rose in intensity as she spoke, ending in something near a shouted growl.

Hayner stared at her as if she had grown another head. Seymour snorted, "Sounds like someone's got a grudge." He strode over

Lifting her eyes, Kaiyou stared at him, "You think I'm kidding? Next time we see him, offer to play with him. By the way, what do you want on your tombstone?"

"You mean... that guy would kill people?" Olette asked as she climbed off the boxes she and Pence had taken refuge on.

Kaiyou snorted, wrapping her arms around herself. "I grew up with him. He tortured me. Yeah, he'd kill you, kill you all if he thought it would be fun. And laugh as he did so. He only worked with us because he's planning something and Seymour was in the way... I'd rather have Seymour than Gary!"

Shaking her head, Kaiyou started off down the dock, "Sora's gotten into trouble!" is all she said, and that was enough to get the rest of the team running after her.

* * *

Yuna had been in the process of giving a speech, explaining about the Darkness, what had happened to their world, and how it had gotten fixed. She had been telling her people that while people were probably missing still, there was no need to worry. They were probably alright. There were heroes out protecting the universe from the evil that had nearly destroyed everything.

She had been in the process of saying those things when someone else had interrupted her.

"Yes. The evil that has affected the universe will be stopped."

Turning, Yuna blinked as a man who looked much like Tidus stepped out into the light. "Lenne," he addressed her, a longing look in his eyes as he held his hands out to her. "Lenne, I will destroy that evil and you and I can be together... always. I will destroy this world that kept us apart, and I will destroy all other worlds that are incapable of living peacefully"

Yuna shook her head, "Who... are you?"

"It's me! Shuyen!" he stepped closer. "Don't you remember me?" His longing was replaced by rage as Tidus stepped between him and Yuna.

"Hey. Her name isn't Lenne. Go away!"

Guards, ready to jump to Yuna's aid, came rushing up the stairs, wielding polearms and small clubs. Turning, Shuyen stared first at the guards, then at Tidus, and behind him, Yuna. "No – you'll not keep me from her!" Throwing his hands towards the guards, Shuyen made a motion like he was conducting an orchestra; broad strokes that somehow made the fifteen guards straighten briefly, blink, and turn their spears against Yuna's guardians.

Yuna glanced around, then turned towards the crowd, "Run!" she shouted to them and climbed the balustrade, leaping over, moving to find a better place to fight.

Below the crowd had yet to move, but when Yuna drew her guns and began firing as she fell, they began to scatter in a panicked mass. Paine and Rikku were quick to follow. It took Tidus and Khimari a second more to make the jump with Wakka carrying Lulu last.

Landing on the wide walkway a level below, the group dashed for better positions as fifteen guards came leaping down after them. Shuyen remained on the balcony, leaning against the balustrade as he looked down at them.

Lifting her hands, Lulu cast a fire spell at Shuyen, blasting the Prince of Darkness as well as the balcony he stood on with an explosion that echoed. Without waiting, Rikku darted forward, slicing at the arm of the controlled guard, but her tiny daggers did little damage. Instead, the man slapped her aside on his way to attack Yuna, whose bullets were doing more damage. Screaming as she flew through the air in an uncontrolled sail, Rikku crashed behind a row of seats.

Yuna turned, "Rikku!"

"Yuna! Watch out!" Tidus shouted as well, leaping forward to block the attack that would have easily skewered the distracted young woman. Tidus retaliated, knocking aside the man's polearm and managed a strike that knocked the man out. Khimari was there only a second later to wrap an arm around Yuna. Leaping off, he took the ex-Summoner out of harm's way as Tidus rolled to avoid getting slashed when another mind-controlled guard came running at him, wildly swinging a club.

Rikku, not finished, stood up to her full, natural height, from behind the seating and leapt over it. Swiftly dashing across the pavement, Riku slammed a foot into the back of the guard that was attacking Tidus, then slashed with her daggers, dropping the man in one hit.

Eyes focusing on the blonde, Tidus grinned, "You found your Garment Grid!"

"Yeah! Who would have thought it'd be under a seat? ...although, it kinda had some sticky stuff all over it." Turning, Rikku faced another guard and delivered a swift slice with her blades, knocking him out swiftly.

Shuyen, standing some distance away, lifted his hands, as if conducting an orchestra again, and pointing at Rikku, he made a motion. Eyes widening, Rikku stumbled, then shook her head. Turning to face Tidus, she brought her daggers up and attacked swiftly. Startled, he took the first blow, then dodged the second, "Rikku! Wake up!" he shouted, to no effect.

Finally, Tidus had to defend himself, and with a shouted apology, he slipped past Rikku's guard and knocked her out firmly. He had to avoid another guard as the man threw himself blindly at Tidus, still retaining most of the skill he had with his weapon, but apparently lacking any ability to recognize outside threats. Yuna's bullets worked the man's back and before he could do more than swing once at Tidus, he was down. Eleven guards remained, Tidus found as he glanced around the area.

"Fire!" Lulu shouted, throwing her hands towards Shuyen. He staggered slightly from the blow, then turned to look at her. Raising his hands, he swiftly retaliated with a spell. Lulu swayed, looking around as if the scenery were completely foreign to her.

Another guard attacked Yuna, and this time, Khimari blocked as Yuna stepped out from behind the Rhonso to fire off several shots before dashing away for a better position. She was forced to defend herself again even as Khimari dropped the original guard that attacked her. Paine was at Yuna's side this time, striking down the second guard swiftly.

Wakka took the chance to send his blitzball flying towards Shuyen, smacking the Prince of Darkness hard, even though he had brought his hands up to block his head. Growling in fury, Shuyen pointed at Lulu once more and she swayed once more before turning towards Wakka. Lifting her hands, she shouted, "Fire!" and threw the spell.

Hit, Wakka staggered and looked towards Lulu just as she was lifting her hands again, "Water!" she shouted, but her grip on the spell slipped, and instead of casting it on Wakka, she dropped it on herself. Stunned, she simply stood there dripping as a controlled guard walked up to her. Aiming his ball carefully, Wakka threw it, knocking the guard's aim off as he made a strike. The pole of his spear was all that connected with Lulu, but that was enough to knock her out.

"Lenne!" Shuyen called to Yuna, reaching his hand towards her, "Why are you doing this? Come away from them."

An arc of twilight energy shot past Wakka just as the guard standing over Lulu was lifting his spear to strike and kill her. The blast struck the guard full on, knocking him towards the edge of the walkway.

Yuna turned, "Sora! Riku! Don't kill the guards! They're controlled!"

Sora, dashing past Riku called back, "Okay!"

Riku paused long enough to aim another blast at the guard that he had not quite knocked out and the man went down. A second later, Umi sped past Riku, her hair flying as she leapt into the air and aimed a kick at the head of another guard. Knocking the man to the ground, she leapt off him and was on her way again, dashing up the rows of seats towards the balcony Shuyen stood on. Sora, close behind, leapt onto the balcony to flank the Prince of Darkness.

Swinging his keyblade, Sora forced Shuyen back a step. Umi's axe kick finally sent the Prince against the balustrade. Shuyen turned and leapt over the side, but even as he did, his hand shot out, pointing towards Sora.

For a second, Sora stood there, then turned towards Umi, swinging his keyblade. Deciding to not be there for it to connect, the Nobody opened a portal behind her and stepped out on the walkway below.

Leaping down after her, Sora shouted incoherently – only to get a blast of Twilight energy in the face as Riku turned to look at what his friend was doing. Landing hard on the ground, Sora skidded a bit before coming up against a row of seats. He did not get back up.

Umi dodged a guard's polearm and swung a leg up as she grasped the front of his shirt. Yanking him down, she slammed him into her knee. Breath knocked out, he went down, helped by her elbow. With her opponent knocked out, Umi dodged another guard's attack and slipped behind him to trip him. He was down a second later with a chop to the back of the neck.

"Riku! Look out!" Yuna shouted.

Dodging immediately, Riku rolled to his feet again to find himself facing Tidus. The bleached-blond was wearing a blank look even as he attacked again. Keyblade up, Riku blocked and backed away a step as Tidus continued to attack relentlessly. From the side, Wakka's blitzball slammed against Tidus's side, knocking him off balance, and in a whirl, Paine was there, striking with the flat of her sword. Tidus dropped to the ground. She was forced to dodge as one of the five remaining guards attacked her. Ducking the swing of the man's club, she aimed a kick at his stomach, then followed up with a slap to his head from the flat of her blade.

Wakka reclaimed his blitzball and turned, aiming it at Shuyen, only to watch as the Prince of Darkness pointed at him. Already committed to his attack, Wakka's ball sailed from his grasp – but went directly past Shuyen.

Umi had been in the process of sneaking up behind the Prince, but when she spotted Wakka's ball flying towards her, she changed her plan. Aiming a punch at the ball, she connected with it hard – sending it right back to its source. Not having expected the sudden return of his weapon, Wakka took the shot in the face and went down.

Again, Riku was forced do duck, but this time, Khimari was standing over him. Dodging back, Riku narrowly avoided getting sliced as the Rhonso advanced. Leaping up and landing on Khimari's spear, Riku sprang over the Rhonso and dashed away as Khimari turned to face him again. Paine, having been nearby still, was swift to take a shot at the Rhonso's back. Yuna, seeing that the others had been forced to take on Khimari, turned her guns towards the Rhonso and took several shots before she was forced to dodge one of the guards. Turning, Yuna fired off several shots to take the guard that had attacked her down. The three remaining made a rush for Riku.

Throwing a shield up briefly, Riku repositioned to slash his keyblade at the first guard guar reached him, knocking him out in one blow. He dodged the second guard's attack and spun back in to deliver a strike that had the man on the ground a second later. Risking a glance, Riku checked to see if Khimari was still on his feet, then ducked the last guard's clumsy swing.

Turning, Khimari caught Paine with the staff of his spear and threw her into the seating. With a running start, Umi leapt onto Khimari's back, "Good night," she told him and kicked off, delivering two strikes to the back of his head with her heels before flipping and landing on the ground a few steps away. Like a felled tree, Khimari went down, and Paine had yet to get up from where she had been thrown.

Swiftly, Riku set the last guard on his rear and tapped him firmly with the flat of his blade. That accounted for all the guards, but with the way Shuyen was controlling them, Riku didn't like the odds much.

Pausing to look towards the Prince of Darkness, Umi frowned slightly, then leapt away as he aimed a hand at her, falling backwards into a dark portal. Riku, having been standing a short distance behind Umi, took the spell in the face and swayed before turning towards Yuna who backed away carefully, her guns up and ready.

Too confused to realize that Yuna was simply distracting him, Riku went down under the sudden attack from behind. Before he had hit the ground, Umi hopped back into a dark portal and did not reappear.

Looking around nervously, Yuna turned towards Shuyen.

"Lenne – Lenne! Why are you fighting me?" Shuyen begged, striding towards Yuna.

"I'm not Lenne!" she objected. In seconds he had teleported in a waft of dark fog to directly behind her. His embrace was stiff as a corpse and had about as much warmth as he wrapped his arms around her.

Struggling against him, Yuna aimed her guns back towards his face and pulled the triggers. "Let me go!"

Suddenly he spun her around to face him, slamming an arm down against hers. The guns went spinning across the pavement. Again, he locked her against his chest with a stiff embrace. Lifting his hand, Shuyen placed it against her face, and as he slid his fingers into her hair, Yuna went limp.

"Don't worry, Lenne," he said softly, "I'll destroy this world, and all other worlds that get in my way... and we'll be together. There will never be war again."

"Great goal but you're going about it all wrong."

Blinking, Shuyen looked around. His gaze fell on the only one standing amidst the bodies strewn around the walkway. Deliberately, Kaiyou strode towards the man, hands empty. What he couldn't see was that she had lowered her barriers, focusing on the Light in the area. It was a passive thing, but she knew it was not going to last long.

"You... you're..." he paused, "The Amplifier," he smiled. "I'd heard of you."

"Yeah. A lot of people have, it seems," Kaiyou replied flatly, "You're not going to use me either. Sorry to dash your dreams. I'm going to kick your butt now." Drawing her keyblade, she dodged to the side as Shuyen pointed at her. Whatever spell he had attempted to cast bounced off her and fizzled in the air.

Turning, Shuyen carefully laid Yuna on the ground and stepped away from her. Waving his hands like a conductor, Shuyen launched another spell at Kaiyou, but it too bounced off her shield as she made a rush straight towards him.

Without bothering to explain to him that spells would do nothing, she attacked him physically, distracting the Prince of Darkness as the rest of her party moved through the unconscious and revived them.

Finally forced to resort to physical attacks, Shuyen pulled a sword to block Kaiyou's keyblade. "You're no match for me," he snarled, shoving her away.

Dodging his next attack, Kaiyou ducked around behind him and hit him from the side. "Maybe I don't have to be?" Kaiyou replied and dodged back – just as Lulu's fire spell exploded around Shuyen. Back in his face before he could recover, Kaiyou struck the Prince several times. Blocking her fourth attack, Shuyen pushed her away again, staggering now. His clothes and hair were crispy on the edges. He turned to aim a hand at Lulu, only to find that she had changed positions and Auron was coming straight at him.

Again, Kaiyou dodged away as Auron hefted his huge sword over his shoulder. How a blow like that didn't sever the Prince in one hit, Kaiyou wasn't sure, after all, to her knowledge, weapons like that were for cutting down horses. Closing range again, Kaiyou slashed Shuyen several times before Lulu's water spell hit the Prince, followed by Rikku springing in to slash twice. Her powerful attacks sent Shuyen staggering before he threw a hand towards Kaiyou, aiming a spell of some sort at her. It bounced off her shield to hit Auron, who suddenly turned, swinging his horse-killing sword at her. Caught off-guard, Kaiyou went sailing through the air.

Briefly, she threw herself into a flip to get her feet under her and look down to see where the ground was; only to find that she had flown completely over the railing and into the pit in the center of the stadium. This was Not Good.

Even as she watched, a black portal opened beneath her. On the other side, her feet hit the ground and she rolled to take the impact. Looking around for the source of the unexpected help, she spotted Umi – who gave her a thumb's up before rushing in to deliver an axe-kick to Shuyen's back.

Seifer dashed past Kaiyou to slash with his sword several times before dodging away.

Beginning to feel dizzy, Kaiyou decided that she could stay back where she was, and knelt on the ground. She watched impassively as the others concentrated their attacks, working as a unit. Not everyone had been revived. Kaiyou spotted Sora lying on the ground a short distance from her. Riku and Khimari were next to each other and Yuna was where Shuyen had left her. Auron had been taken care of but Olette, staying out of things, had thrown a revive potion on him and he was back in the fray with Seifer, Fuu, Rai, Vivi, Lulu, Rikku, and Umi.

It wasn't more than a few moments later that Shuyen screamed, his body bursting into strange multicolored globs that Auron had stated were souls. "...so, he was a Fiend?" Kaiyou mused, remaining where she was even as Olette dashed over.

"Aros? Are you okay? You aren't hurt, are you?" Olette asked.

Lifting her head, Kaiyou managed a smile and held her hand up, letting the other girl help. "I was doing that... Amplifying thing again," Kaiyou admitted, "I think it's either I fight or I do that, no doing both."

"Hm," Olette looked down, "Well, I guess it's for the better." She smiled. "You'd be unstoppable if you could do both at the same time."

"...that's better?" Kaiyou repeated, confused as Olette dashed off to go finish reviving everyone.

* * *

Next Chapter: Finally, she's no longer beside herself, but still with worry. Shouldn't there be some kind of ceremony to go with a reunification? Reunions...


	81. Reunited

_Chapter 81_

_(Reunited)_

"Auron!" Sora exclaimed as the man in red helped Sora to his feet, "But you were in Hell!" Olette meanwhile, moved on to revive someone else, Pence was also moving around the group, administering health potions to everyone. At least the non-combatants were finding ways to be useful.

Kaiyou turned to blink at Auron from where she stood a short distance away. That she had heard Sora so clearly was testament to how loud he could be. "Well, I guess you did tell me you were dead," she admitted as she strode over. _'Better say hi to Sora before he gets upset.'_

This got the attention of everyone else, since they were now all awake. Yuna had migrated to Tidus's side, Lulu was standing near Wakka, and Paine, Rikku, and Khimari were nearby. Seifer, Rai, and Fuu had collected in a group a short distance from Yuna's party with Vivi standing on the fringe. Auron had stepped back from Sora. Umi and Riku had moved to stand beside Auron, arms folded as they watched. Lastly, Hayner, Pence, and Olette were standing in their own small group.

"What?" Seifer asked. However, his question was ignored as Sora spotted Kaiyou and launched himself at her. Sweeping her up, he spun in circles.

Abruptly, Riku burst out cackling, "She was right! Just like a golden retriever!"

Staggering to a stop, Sora looked at Riku, grinning too broadly to scowl, "So what?"

"Good puppy, lemme down?" Kaiyou requested. "Maybe I'll give you a real hug?"

Setting her on her feet, Sora grinned down at her. "Real hugs now?" he pleaded. Sighing as if this was costing her dignity points, Kaiyou put her arms around him. Riku saw the smile she hid against her brother's shoulder.

"How _romantic_," Seifer sneered. "Can we get out of here now?"

Stepping away from Sora, Kaiyou turned, "If I wasn't in such a good mood, I'd sock you in the face again."

"Again?" Sora asked, then Roxas took over to add quietly, "good job." Catching his look, she winked.

Seifer scowled right back at her, "You only got that shot because I let you," he sneered.

"Hey now," Riku stepped in, "We just got done with a fight. We don't need another one right now.

"Who the hell are you?" Seifer sneered.

Looking Seifer over, Riku smiled. "Someone you shouldn't mess with." Turning away, he addressed Sora. "Let's get back to Esthar. We've gotten more than we came to do done."

"...Er. Seymour is still here," Kaiyou put in, "And will likely make a try for me. Especially now..."

Rikku flittered over, circling Kaiyou's head, "Seymour?" she gasped, "What happened?"

Kaiyou looked down at the ground, since following Rikku was going to make her sick. "We fought him, Gary showed up and joined our side to kick Seymour into a portal and the two of them disappeared. Wherever they went, I doubt it was to go kiss and make friends at least. Gary doesn't work with anyone who could possibly pose a threat to him."

Yuna nodded, "Seymour also doesn't work with anyone very well. There's no worry of them joining together, I think."

Lifting her eyes to meet Yuna's, Kaiyou sighed in relief, "The fact remains still, Seymour is here and angry."

"Maybe Gary defeated him?" Sora suggested.

"That's not really something I'd hope for," Riku pointed out glancing at his friend, blue eyes looking through Sora to Roxas.

Roxas, speaking through Sora, replied, "Good point. After what Gary did to Maleficent..."

"So what do we do about him?" Kaiyou asked.

"Leave him."

Turning, the group discussing Seymour looked towards Auron.

"You're sure?" Yuna asked.

The older man nodded solemnly.

"We can take him," Rikku enthused, throwing punches in the air, nearly knocking herself off Yuna's shoulder. "We knocked him into the Farplane before! We'll do it again! We can be just as stubborn as him!"

Yuna nodded, a smile flicking across her lips, "We won't let the dead rule our lives."

Gazing first at Rikku, then at Yuna, Kaiyou pondered that for a second then nodded.

"Hey!" Hayner objected, "what about us?"

Sora looked towards Hayner, then towards Olette and Pence, and finally releasing Kaiyou, dashed over to his friends from Twilight Town, "I was worried about you guys too!" he admitted, "I'm glad Aros found you and got you out of there though!"

Turning away, Auron stepped over to Yuna, who threw her arms around him in their own reunion as Rikku flittered in her fairy form in circles around Auron's head.

"...you found your Garment Grid, _why_ are you still like that?" Lulu asked sourly.

"Because it's _fun_!"

"More like she can steal stuff and people don't notice," Tidus put in. Yuna sniggered behind her hand.

"Unless it's bigger than her," Umi stated, "then it would be obvious."

Rikku giggled.

"That guy never answered!" Seifer objected loudly, pointing at Auron. "What do you mean he's dead?"

"I'm Unsent."

"Like... that Seymour guy?" Olette asked, receiving a hug from Sora.

"Yes," Auron replied blandly. "I escaped from Hades when the Gates of Hell were opened some time ago. I returned here."

Kaiyou winced a little, "Yeah... about that. Do those need closing or anything?"

"No, they closed shortly after I escaped. Hades was not ...pleased."

Sora sniggered, "I believe that!"

A hand touched Kaiyou's back, and starting, she looked over her shoulder to find Umi standing there. "It's time," she said softly, "I don't like being alone."

"Me either," Kaiyou admitted, "I missed you."

Stepping closer, Umi sighed softly as she put her arms around Kaiyou's shoulders. She disappeared in a puff of white and gold sparks. No one seemed to notice the exchange, for which Kaiyou was glad. She turned away from the various reunions to take a moment and sort through her thoughts.

It was nearly like suddenly remembering the things she had buried in her diary – only these thoughts and memories were from completely different people. She could now recall Umi's snowball fight with Kairi and Demyx. She also remembered when Gary had found Kosuiko – remembered how he had grasped her, and how she had fought and gotten away from him before he had done more than touch her in uncomfortable places. Kaiyou shivered at that memory.

"So," Riku said softly as he came to stand beside her, "How's it feel to be whole?"

Kaiyou looked up at the sky, then turned a smile on him, "Scary." Her smile faded. "I'm better this way, but... more useful." Riku nodded slightly.

"Sora and I will protect you," he promised, his hand sneaking towards hers.

"I know." Looking down at the ground, she sighed softly, then lifted her eyes and turned her attention back to the conversation. Riku's hand closed over air as she stepped away.

Sora was in the process of saying, "We'll take you guys back to Esthar with us. I'm sure Mom and Dad won't mind finding a place for you."

Seifer nodded, "That's where we belong anyway," he gestured to himself, Rai, and Fuu. Hayner, Pence, and Olette did not look extremely overjoyed at the thought of having to settle down in a new place.

Stepping over to stand next to Sora, Kaiyou put in her two cents. "When one door closes another opens, or so I've been told. Mourn for what happened, but don't let it overshadow your future."

Looking towards her, Sora grinned from ear to ear, "That makes me so happy to hear you say that."

Sticking out her tongue at him, Kaiyou replied, "It's only what you've been trying to drill in to my head for... wow. A couple weeks now," Kaiyou pondered that. "A lot has changed."

"Hey – where'd Umi go?" Sora asked, looking around.

"You're looking at her?" Kaiyou sighed as he turned back towards her. He grinned again and threw his arms around her.

Hayner shook his head, "I don't know how we mistook her for you, Sora. You two act nothing alike..."

"Don't really look much alike, either," Seifer added. "You guys must be morons."

"No, they look a lot alike, and we hadn't seen Sora in a year," Olette put in, putting her hands to her hips.

Finally, Yuna came to join the conversation. "Aros," she said, "I'm glad you're alright. We were worried."

Turning to look at the ex-Summoner, Kaiyou replied, "Eh. I've survived for this long, I don't think an armada of Heartless can pose much of a threat." She flipped a hand dismissively.

"Liar," Seifer huffed.

Folding her arms, Kaiyou retorted, "Don't make me kick you in the pants."

"Like you could." Seifer snorted.

Stepping between them, Olette interrupted, "Oh, stop it you two! I'm getting tired of hearing you fight."

"Tell Seifer to get an attitude adjustment."

"You promised to take me to Squall," Seifer retorted.

"And has it looked like I've had the chance to do that yet?" Kaiyou snapped back.

Olette turned towards Kaiyou, "Please stop fighting?" she begged.

"Alright..." Kaiyou sighed, "Arguing with him _is_ a waste of time."

"I guess this is goodbye for real then," Yuna said to Sora with a smile. "You got us home, and found your sister." Opening her arms, she gave Sora a hug, then bounced away to give one to Riku. Finally, she gave one to Kaiyou. "Thank you for all your help."

Blushing, Sora stammered something. Kaiyou blinked and nodded once. Riku looked completely unfazed by getting hugged.

Grasping Kaiyou's hand, Sora looked down at her with a grin. "Let's go home."

"Hm," Kaiyou murmured, lowering her gaze. Sora didn't notice her lackluster response and instead turned, dragging her towards the stadium gates. Riku followed even before Sora called, "Come on guys!"

* * *

'_Sora, are you even listening?'_ Kaiyou asked, since he had been chatting with Hayner since they got out of the stadium. Mostly confirming everything Kaiyou had told them about what was going on. _'I still think Seymour isn't going to give up that easily!'_

But Sora only glanced towards her and gave a smile. "Don't worry! We can take him!" Hayner blinked at Sora's sudden change of topic.

"So... you two really can talk without speaking?" he asked and Sora nodded.

Sighing, Kaiyou cast him a glower. "Dense as a brick as always," dropping back from his side, she chose to join Riku. "Are _you_ going to listen?"

"Depends on what you've got to say."

"I just feel like Seymour is going to attack at any moment. Even if Gary did drive him off, I don't think Gary would have easily defeated another Prince... after how much trouble the other ones have given us. Everyone's off guard, I'm whole... it's the perfect time."

"Unless he's got something better to do?" Riku suggested.

"Better," Kaiyou sighed, "Like what? Get his hair-horns re-glued?"

Riku stared at her.

"Seriously. He's got hair-horns. They defy gravity." She made a gesture with her hands to outline their shape, "Like antlers or something... and they're blue."

Riku stared at Kaiyou, trying desperately to not burst out laughing.

"Talking about Seymour?" Olette asked as she hopped up beside Kaiyou.

Gesturing towards Olette, Kaiyou stated, "See?"

"Okay!" Riku coughed, shoulders shaking as he tried to hold back his laughter, "Okay – Hair-horns... right."

"I just don't feel like everything's over..." Kaiyou sighed.

"You think we should find him first?" Riku replied.

"Well... It's probably not a good idea to leave him to his own devices..." Kaiyou put in folding her arms.

Looking up at the sky, Riku pondered that for a moment, "Know where to find him?"

"Guado Salam."

"..." Riku snorted once, then clamped his mouth shut.

Kaiyou sighed, "Guano Salami?" she asked and he nodded, shoulders shaking in amusement.

Olette clapped her hands over her mouth as she burst out giggling. "I didn't think of that!" she gasped finally.

"Yeah," Kaiyou said slowly. "The whole situation just begs to be made fun of, but... I didn't think it was in good taste before." She glanced towards Olette and finally gave in and sniggered. "There's a musical about a man-eating plant, and the guy who takes care of it is named Seymour... I just can't get that song out of my head..." taking a breath, she burst out with, "Suddenly Seymour - Is standing beside you!"

"Now you're making up songs about him?" Seifer asked, moving up beside Olette.

Kaiyou stuck her tongue out at him. "No. We're making fun of him."

"He's weird... The heck's up with the hair-horns?" Seifer mused.

Riku burst out laughing, drawing Sora's attention at last.

They reached the ship without any incident, and Kaiyou stared at it. "This isn't a Gummi..." while having seen it from a distance, she had not been able to tell the material it was made of.

"Nope! It's Dad's!" Sora replied cheerfully and keyed the hatch to open. Hayner hopped across first, followed by Fuu and Rai. Seifer paused and offered to help Olette across. She accepted his help and he followed. Pence made the hop across the gap on his own and Sora leapt in after.

Looking down at Vivi, Kaiyou asked, "Need help?"

"Probably," the little black mage admitted.

"I'll get you home. I haven't forgotten," Kaiyou said.

Large yellow eyes turned towards her, Vivi nodded. "I know. Things got a little wild." He seemed to smile at her.

Stepping over, Riku took Vivi under the arms and hoisted him, stepping across the gap.

Hesitating a moment, Kaiyou stared at the darkness on the other side, then looked out across the sea.

"Kaiyou?"

Riku stepped back out.

"I'm...scared," she admitted softly.

"Of?"

"Going..."

Placing his hand on her shoulder, Riku turned her to face him and when she didn't lift her eyes, his other hand tipped her chin up. "Sora will be there... I'll be there. So will Kairi."

Licking her lips, Kaiyou stared up at him, breath hesitating at the edge of her lips.

"I'll hold you to that," she whispered finally.

Turning, she stepped into the ship, Riku behind her.

The hatch closed with a thump and hiss.

* * *

AN: I'm getting my wisdom teeth taken out this Friday, so there's a chance the next chapter will be late. A CHANCE mind you. The chapter is complete, but the ones beyond it are not as of this point in time. Maybe while I'm high on painkillers I'll get the next few chapters done. We're getting closer to the ending! Hang on tight! It'll be a swift drop and a sudden stop!

Next Chapter: NOW we will reveal the king and queen of the Homecoming dance! Hail the Homecoming Heroes!


	82. Hail the Homecoming Heroes

_Chapter 82_

_(Hail the Homecoming Heroes)_

The pictures on the wall rattled as Sora slammed the door open. "Mom! Dad!" he shouted loudly, "I brought some strays home!"

From his desk, Laguna winced, looking up from his paperwork. Ellone had been leaning on the back of his chair, reading over his shoulder. "_Sora_!" Ellone admonished, looking up, "I've told you not to slam doors before - and you _know_ we can't have any pets!"

Straightening, her eyes traveled beyond Sora's shoulder to the teens that stood behind him. Hayner snorted in amusement at Sora, Pence and Olette were sniggering behind their hands. Kaiyou stayed behind, back against the wall beside the door, heart pounding, eyes wide.

For Kaiyou, the ride home just had not been long enough. She had fretted and paced the entire time, and now had worked herself up into a fit of total terror. For some privacy, she had closed her heart to Sora and Riku, and barricaded herself in one of the small sleeping bunks, claiming she needed rest. Now... Now she was whole and home. And Gary was still alive. There was more than enough chance that he would follow her here, kill everyone, and take her – the thought scared her witless.

'_If I run away now, Umi, I can spare them all...'_

Umi sighed, _'My Heart, don't torment people like that? It's not a good idea. Just go in there.'_

Meanwhile, Sora continued, "Can I keep them?" as he let his three friends from Twilight Town enter the room.

"Who are they?" Ellone stepped back from Laguna's chair, drawing herself up in an authoritative pose. It was an unconscious thing for her by now, but it served its purpose.

"Hayner, Pence, Olette, meet my parents, Presidents Laguna and Ellone Loire." Sora gestured at each of his friends in turn, then paused, frowning, "Aros, quit hiding," he admonished.

"Aros?" Laguna gasped, lunging to his feet. Before Sora could even nod, he had leapt over his desk out the door. Kaiyou stared at him, eyes wide, and before she could flee, he had her in his arms, carrying her bodily into the room over his shoulder.

"Ah!" Kaiyou flailed, beating his back ineffectually. She knew a good strong kick would have dropped him, but Umi was quick to stop her.

Dropping her to her feet again, Laguna grinned broadly. "You worried us all and then hide in the hall? Don't think you're going to just _get away_ with that!"

Blushing, Kaiyou turned away, folding her arms, "Maybe I was waiting to make a grand entrance?"

'_Laaame,'_ Umi teased.

"Suuure," he poked her side, making her squirm.

He grinned even more broadly and poked again. Kaiyou firmly held her expression straight. Hayner, Pence and Olette were watching, as was Ellone. Laguna leaned around to look at her face, then began a barrage of tickling until Kaiyou gasped out a giggle and sank to the floor, quite defeated. Laguna stood over her victoriously, grinning from ear to ear as Ellone sank to a seat and silently cried.

"Wow." Hayner said slowly, "she _can_ smile..."

Sora burst out laughing. "Yeah. She just wants to be tough."

From the floor, Kaiyou jabbed him in the back of the knee before staggering to her feet again and dodged away from Laguna when he lifted his hands. "Hey! I just wanted a hug," he protested.

"Yeah right," Kaiyou replied and sidled around the desk, only to find herself in her mother's arms.

'_Sora... this probably isn't very comfortable for Hayner, Pence, and Olette,'_ Roxas pointed out.

Looking at his three friends from Twilight Town, Sora reached over and touched Hayner's arm, and gestured for him to follow, abandoning Kaiyou.

* * *

"Sorry..."

Sora looked over at Hayner, brows rising as he gazed at his friend. Hayner had waited until they were heading down the front stairs of the capitol building before speaking. Coming to a stop in the lobby, Sora turned to face the taller young man. "No, it's alright." Sora looked away, "Gary will pay for that too. He's got a lot to answer for. ...You're more than welcome to live with me. Once I explain to Mom and Dad, they won't have a problem, I'm sure."

There were SeeDs standing around the room; guarding the doors, but otherwise, they weren't giving the teens much notice. The red carpet was slightly stained and there were cracks in the walls, but otherwise, it seemed that this part of the building had been deemed structurally sound enough to be returned to use.

Olette wiped her eyes and put on a smile, "At least there's a happy ending for someone. I was kind of worried about her."

"Like she said before: don't let the past overshadow your future!" Sora insisted. "I mean... things won't ever be the same as they used to be, but... maybe in a way, they can be better?"

Hayner stared ahead for a moment before finally nodding, "Look forward, not back," he agreed finally, then gave Sora a sad smile. "It's just..."

"We saw it all destroyed," Pence added, "It's hard to just...forget that. Or let it go without a fight."

"But you're not letting it go without a fight," Sora insisted. "You're still living, right? You're defying what Maleficent wanted with every breath you take from this day forward. You lived. Maybe you can rebuild it?"

Olette finally added, "But we'll have to learn how to." She lifted her chin, tears glittering in her eyes. "I'll stay here for now, and learn how to rebuild our home."

Sora nodded, casting a smile towards her.

'_See? I told you she was strong,'_ Roxas said.

"Hey guys," Sora said, "I need to introduce you to someone."

'_What? No! Don't!'_

But it was too late. Sora closed his eyes and stepped back, leaving Roxas there, eyes wide in terror.

Stepping up beside Roxas, Sora put his arm on his Nobody's shoulder, "This is my Nobody, Roxas," he grinned. "He's the reason why we seemed to know each other, actually."

Hayner blinked, "That was the weirdest thing I've ever seen," he stated. "Just getting that out in the open, that's all." He glanced towards Pence and Olette before looking back at Roxas. "I... Know you seemed familiar, Sora, when we first met, but... Him... I could swear I've never seen him before but."

"It's like I know him."

Roxas looked away, "We... spent a year together," he admitted, "Not you guys exactly, but, something of you."

Olette stepped forward, leaning in to look at his face as he averted it. "I'm not sure what you're talking about, but, if what you say is true – if you were friends with us before, somehow... then I don't see a problem with being friends now either."

"Told you," Sora teased.

Roxas elbowed Sora in the gut and looked back towards Olette, then lifted his eyes to look from Pence to Hayner, both of which nodded. A smile curving his lips, Roxas finally nodded as well, "Thanks."

"After all," Sora said, rubbing his stomach, "You said you wanted to have feet of your own more often. Why hide from your friends?"

"I wasn't planning on having them know I was _half_ of you, Sora," Roxas admitted. Confused, the brunet stared at Roxas for a moment. "Never mind."

"You're still yourself, no matter where you came from," Olette supplied. "I think that's what's confusing Sora." The young man nodded.

Pence laughed slightly at that. "You don't seem to act just like him, so, you're obviously a different person." He grinned.

Looking from Pence and back to Olette, Roxas finally nodded. "Alright."

"Is there any Sea-salt ice cream around here?" Hayner asked.

"I think I can scare some up," Sora replied and took off, "this way!"

* * *

Looking back over her shoulder, Kaiyou sighed as she found no one following her. She had finally escaped her parents, several hours after getting left alone with them when someone had come in looking for Laguna's signature. While she was sure she could love them – did love them – she was not sure she could ever show that much affection for anyone quite as... openly ... as her mother and father wanted her to.

Still, there was a small, very small, portion of her mind that wondered if any of this was really real. It was all just too ... fantastic to be real.

Lost in thought as she hurried to escape the hall Laguna's office was on, she suddenly staggered as she ran into something. Heart hammering in her chest, she quickly stepped back and looked up – only to find Riku staring down at her. A blush crept up her cheeks as she stepped back again.

"Looking for somewhere quiet?" he asked.

She dropped her eyes, "Yeah." Her hands twisted together behind her.

"Me too," he grabbed her arm, hand sliding down to her wrist. Together, they headed down the hall and exited the building. The lawn of the courtyard was scuffed, but there were still benches just outside the door and a small fish pond in the center, which Kaiyou headed towards instinctively, dragging Riku by his hand on hers.

Coming to a stop, she stared down at the water, still blushing quite darkly as she realized it wasn't that Riku hadn't let go of her... she had somehow gotten hold of his hand.

"Hiding from your dad again?" she asked, suddenly shy as she recalled the strange dream she'd had some time ago – when her heart and Riku's had connected.

Riku stared at the water, then flicked his gaze towards her, "Yeah. He's being a pain."

"Hovering," she guessed.

His nod was answer enough and they fell silent, watching the fish swarm beneath them. His fingers tightened on hers. "He keeps...showing up! I turn a corner and there he is, leaning against the wall like I was the one who stumbled upon him. I really don't want to talk to him right now. I really just want to figure things out for myself and maybe afterwards I'll talk to him. If he'd just give me some space to figure things out on my own..." He fell silent again, seething.

"Are you mad?" Kaiyou asked suddenly.

Riku blinked and turned to look at her, "Very."

"Well, I can make you twice as mad."

Riku huffed, "Yeah? How?"

Crossing her eyes, she replied, "Like this! Now there're two of you!"

Abruptly, Riku burst out laughing. Kaiyou pulled free of his grasp, turned, and dashed way. Shaking his head, he sighed, "Definitely related to Sora..." Pulling himself together, Riku took chase, "Come back here, you brat!"

Kaiyou had no intentions of stopping until she had worn herself out.

In a sudden burst of speed she had not expected, Riku caught her, and together they crashed to the ground. It wasn't until she was out of breath that she realized she was laughing – and that he was tickling her. Collecting a breath, she retaliated, only to find that Riku was not ticklish, and resorted to trying to get away again. When that, too, failed, she curled into a defensive ball on the ground until he finally tired of her lack of response and dropped to a seat in the grass beside her, puffing a little as well.

"You stopped fighting," he accused.

"I wasn't going to win?" Kaiyou replied, wheezing and slowly turned her head to look, catching the glitter of light on the charm of the necklace that used to be hers... was now his. Her heart warmed at the thought, and blushing, she looked away.

Silence fell between them for a long moment before she finally felt it was safe to uncurl and spread out across the grass. He leaned back on his hands, legs folded Indian style. His face was towards the sky, but his eyes were towards her.

"To defeat the past," Kaiyou said slowly as her eyes were drawn to the pendant at his throat once again, "you must realize that nothing is broken and nothing is whole. Seek the Fallen Garden, there you will find the remnants. You must uncover the past, and only when all the pieces are in place can you destroy nothing." She stared up at the sky, watching the pink fade from the edges of the clouds as the sun set. "That's what Yen Sid told me." Turning her head she looked towards him. "I think I've figured it out finally..."

He raised a silver brow, waiting for her to go on.

She, however, settled back in the grass and lifted her eyes back towards the sky and changed the subject. "You and I... are rather similar."

Riku sat up and turned towards her, a slight frown touching his lips. "How do you figure that?"

She looked at him from the corners of her eyes, but didn't turn to face him as she said, "I've got no light nor shadow in my heart, and you're twilight."

Tipping his head, he pushed his hair back over his shoulder as he looked forward again, "Hm," he grunted. "You still amplify my abilities," he pointed out.

Lowering her eyes, Kaiyou gazed down at the ground, lashes shading her ocean blue eyes more towards purple. "A tool," she murmured.

"Maybe, but I know better than to use you."

Blinking once, she lifted her eyes and turned her head towards him finally, "Know better...?"

"Yeah," Riku smiled slightly and looked down at her, folding his arms on his muscled chest, "Sora would kick my ass if I tried."

For a moment, she stood captured by his gaze, his smile. _'How quiet he seems from the outside... how loud he really is,' _she mused.

Unfolding his arms, Riku reached over and touched her cheek lightly, his fingertips warm and dry against her skin.

Her heart pounded in her chest as he leaned in.

_'Flee!'_ her instincts cried.

He paused, hesitating as if he were having second thoughts about this movement - gaze growing worried.

Still, her instincts said 'Flee'... _'I always make the wrong choices... I vowed to not go with first instincts!'_

In a move too fast for him to react to, she pushed onto her elbows suddenly.

Riku's eyes widened briefly, then closed lightly as his hand cupped her cheek, fingers sliding back into her hair. She was blushing again, he could tell by the heat of her cheeks as she pressed her lips to his in the boldest yet shyest kiss he'd ever had. It made him smile, and he drew back slowly as her face turned beat red and she dropped back into the grass and looked away, hands tucked beneath her head as she tried to make it look like nothing had happened.

Unable to help himself, Riku grinned. With one last caress to her jaw with the tips of his fingers, he removed his hand from her personal space and folded his arms again. Her lips remained pressed together in a hard line, slightly pulled downwards at the corners.

'_I don't think you kissed him for the right reasons...'_ Umi murmured.

'_Hush... I ...wanted to. I can't go around being afraid of that kind of contact forever...'_

Silence returned, him grinning, her blushing and frowning as she stared up at the darkening sky.

"Hey!" Sora called, completely oblivious, Kairi's eyes darted from Riku to Kaiyou, then put a hand to her mouth, eyes widening as she immediately seemed to catch the tension. It was too late to retreat though.

Riku raised a hand and waved, "Hey."

Dropping to the grass next to Riku, near Kaiyou's feet, Sora said, "So, this is where you ran off to?" Looking towards Riku, he added, "Thanks for making sure she didn't try to run away again."

"I had no intention of doing so," Kaiyou replied haughtily. Kairi took a seat beside Kaiyou and giggled.

"More like you had no way of piloting that monstrous ship your father had built by yourself," Riku replied. Kaiyou stuck her tongue out at him.

Kairi leaned down and hugged Kaiyou suddenly, "I'm glad you're alright. I was really worried about you!"

Patting Kairi's back, Kaiyou admitted, "I was worried about you too... I thought... you'd died in the crash..."

"No, I didn't, Umi pulled us out."

"I remember," Kaiyou admitted, and when she got an odd look for that, Kaiyou admitted, "I have Koko and Umi's memories now. I'm whole."

Hugging her one last time, Kairi finally sat up and grinned. "I'm glad!"

"I'm worried," Kaiyou replied. "Hate to say it... but this isn't happily ever after yet. Gary still lives and as long as he breathes, he'll be after me. Not to mention that we totally left Seymour... If he's still alive," she shot Sora look. Her brother blinked at her.

Riku nodded, arms folded, "We had two non-combatants," he pointed out, "And had just finished getting rid of another Price. We needed to rest." He shook his head slightly at Kaiyou. "Sorry if it seemed like we were ignoring your concerns, but..."

She sighed and looked away, "This needs finishing."

"I promised Vivi I'd take him home," Kaiyou added abruptly as it occurred to her. "I can at least get that done..." She turned a pleading look on Sora. _'Please don't make me hang around our parents for much longer. I'm just not sure what to think of them yet.'_

"Can I go please?" Kairi begged.

For a moment, Sora pondered that, then looked towards Riku.

"It wouldn't take long," Kaiyou pointed out, ignoring the silver-haired boy's slight frown.

"Don't see why we can't," Sora agreed finally. "We'll get ready and head out in the morning, though. Mom wants us to have dinner together." He smiled at Kaiyou.

Sitting up suddenly, Kaiyou looked around, a chill raising goose bumps on her arms. "Dinner will have to wait!"

A second later, she was on her feet, as was Sora – who was trying to restrain her. "Hey! It's not going to be scary or anything!" he grasped her shoulders tightly, moving to try to catch her gaze. Riku got to his feet as well, Keyblade springing to his hand unbidden. Kairi was the last to stand, more alarmed by Riku's drawing of his weapon, than Kaiyou's strange behavior. Riku gazed at his keyblade in confusion.

Turning to look at Sora, Kaiyou gripped the front of his jacket.

"Gary's _here_!"

* * *

AN: sorry about the delay. I intended to do a lot of things today, but... a 3-hour long vomit session wasn't among them and it kinda took priority.

Next Chapter: Ring around the rosy, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down.


	83. All Fall Down

_Chapter 83_

_(All Fall Down)_

"How nice of you to announce my arrival."

It wasn't just Kaiyou's imagination – the area had darkened beyond the sunset's gleam, turning into true twilight with Gary at its darkest point. The dark portal he had opened, disappeared just as he stepped free of it, whipping his ankle-length white coat in the sudden breeze. The heartless charm jingled on its chain as he strode closer, black boots leaving black, dead prints in the grass. His face, angelic as always, held a pleasant smile.

Kairi swallowed hard and drew her keyblade, turning to face Gary in a stance that was hardly balanced or knowledgeable. She was no fighter and it was obvious but she was determined to try. Riku, blade already drawn, stepped between Gary and Kaiyou even as Sora pushed Kaiyou behind him and drew both his blades, proof that Roxas was merged with him.

"How cute," Gary sighed, eyeing those who dared to face him.

Trembling in her shoes, Kaiyou stared at Gary, caught like a mouse in a viper's gaze. His sky-blue eyes met hers, tearing her apart with every memory she had regained. Swallowing hard, she drew her own Keyblade and wrung the hilt with both hands.

'_He still holds too much power over me,'_ Kaiyou cried. _'I can't move!'_

"Stand aside and I won't kill you," Gary offered with a slightly wider smile.

Shaking his head, Sora growled, "Liar."

"So be it!" Leaping forward, Gary's sword, Obsidian Heart appeared in his hand, forming in a crackle of black lightning. Swinging his blade, he easily knocked Kairi aside, but was halted in his progress by Riku as the tall silver-haired teen stepped in and braced his block. Landing hard, Kairi rolled a few times before getting to her feet again. She was slow to do so, but more because of inexperience.

Sora sprang into action, moving around to Gary's right while he was occupied with Riku, swinging both blades around to slash.

Grasping her keyblade in both hands, Kairi came running towards Gary once more.

A portal of darkness opened behind Gary just as he leapt away, easily avoiding Sora and Kairi's attacks.

The hair on the back of Kaiyou's neck stood on end, and instinctively, she tucked into a roll. Obsidian Heart slashed the air where Kaiyou's neck had been, catching the ends of her hair as she dived. Finally in motion, Kaiyou lifted her keyblade and backed away as Gary sprang after her, sword slicing a downward diagonal she barely blocked.

"Come on!" Gary taunted, "You little wimp – fight me! You know you want to!"

Grasping her sword more tightly, Kaiyou continued to back away as he chased her across the lawn. Sora and Riku were now behind Gary and closing the distance.

"Kaiyou!" Sora called, "Fight him!"

Sword connecting with Kaiyou's, Gary sent her staggering back and to the ground before he turned to face Sora. "She can't," he laughed, "Don't you see? She and I have so much history together! She's always admired me – loved me! She doesn't know you at all."

Riku launched himself at Gary, swinging his keyblade hard – only to strike a shield. For a moment, he hung there, eyes wide as the shield vibrated – then finally gathered energy at the spot Riku had struck, flinging him across the darkened courtyard.

"As for you!" Gary turned, pointing at Riku as he slowly got to his feet, looking shaken. "You have darkness in your heart. Twilight boy! Against me, you're half-strength. Pleasant thought, hmm?" he grinned, tossing his hair back over his shoulder casually.

Sora leapt between Gary and Kaiyou then, attacking with both blades, whirling them like a mobile blender. Forced to pay attention to Sora, Gary backed away several steps, swiftly blocking the attacks.

Taking a breath, then another, Kaiyou got to her feet and called her keyblade back to her hands.

'_I can't... I WON'T let him destroy my life!'_

Breaking into motion, Kaiyou made a dash to flank Gary and attack from the side. Kairi was in motion now too, dashing for the Prince's other side.

"Uh-uh," he crooned, knocking Sora's blades aside – completely knocking one from his grip, "I can't have you interfering in my fun, Kaiyou!" In a swirl of darkness, Gary disappeared, only to reappear directly beside Kaiyou. Before she could react, his hand landed on her shoulder, grip pinching her flesh; black lightning sizzled between his palm and her flesh. The protection she hadn't noticed before, suddenly shattered under the pressure of Gary's attack – the reflection spell woven into her clothing had been broken.

Screaming in pain, she tried to stagger away – only to find that her feet were rooted to the ground. From the neck down, she could not feel her body, nor make it move.

"Now, don't go passing out or anything!" Gary teased and leapt away as Sora came charging in, managing to barely avoid striking Kaiyou in the head.

Launching into an attack against Riku, Gary dodged Kairi's stumbling strike; instead, he simply went right past her, ignoring her totally.

"Kairi! Help Aros," Sora called and dashed after Gary.

"Right," the redhead stated, more than willing to agree. Reaching Kaiyou's side, she began fishing through her sidepack for an item that would remove the petrifaction on Kaiyou.

Lifting his keyblade, Riku blocked Gary's first strike, then dodged the second, throwing himself out of the path of the obsidian blade. Sora attacked from behind, and Gary turned to defend himself. Rushing to take advantage of the opening, Riku swung his Keyblade around in a savage strike that connected had enough to make Gary stagger. Sora's next few strikes hit as well, drawing blood in wide, dark arcs that splashed across the ground. Leaping back, Gary opened a portal and ducked into it.

Staggering to a stop as they looked around, Sora panted a few times before he straightened. Silence fell; nothing moved. Riku stared around the courtyard, noting that the sun was nearly set, but it was still a little darker than it should have been. He did not release his keyblade the way Sora did.

"We fought him off!" he proclaimed. "He's really a big wimp whenever you give him a real fight!" Sora pumped his fist into the air.

Riku shook his head slightly, but before he could say anything, Kaiyou interrupted him.

"Kairi! Look out!"

Turning, Sora and Riku gasped as Gary stepped out of another portal behind the redhead. She dived away then turned, drawing her keyblade again. Springing into the air, she leapt at him in attempt to strike from above.

Gary turned, grinning broadly as he spun and slammed a foot into her stomach, sending her flying the other way across the lawn. She landed hard and rolled a distance before finally coming to a stop where she did not move.

Furious, Sora launched himself at Gary, only to have his blades knocked aside and an elbow slammed into his face. Staggering back, Sora was not prepared for the follow-up attack. Releasing his sword, Gary grasped Sora's collar, hoisting him into the air before swinging a punch at the brunet's face. Dazed, Sora hung from Gary's grip as the Prince of Darkness turned, flinging the Keyblade Master at Riku as he approached to save his friend from further abuse.

Spinning around, Gary flung Sora at Riku, tripping the silver-haired young man. In a second, Gary had teleported and reappeared beside Riku, swinging his blade in a wide arc that Riku barely managed to parry. Stepping over Sora, Gary followed Riku as he retreated.

Kaiyou stared. Helpless and hopeless as she was forced to watch Gary kill the ones she had grown to love. Closing her eyes, she tried to find a speck of light nearby to Amplify. She reached for Kairi – but was stopped by what seemed like a wall of darkness. She reached for Sora – only to find that he was cut off from her as well.

Desperately, she reached for the only one left standing.

The connection was made, Kaiyou took a breath as she focused on Riku's light. Pain shot through her as Gary sprang forward suddenly, slapping Riku's keyblade from his hands and followed up with another strike that connected across his chest.

Blood, somehow still vivid red, splashed through the air and dripped from Gary's blade.

Smiling as Riku collapsed to his knees, clutching his wound – then toppled forward onto his face, Gary turned to look towards Kaiyou.

Tears streaming down her face as she tried to hold back her screams of agony, Kaiyou struggled against Gary's spell even as he strode towards her.

"Why are you crying?" he crooned, lifting a hand to touch her tears, "I saved you from them. They're all just using you. Especially Sora."

"They Are Not!" Kaiyou shook her head – the only thing she could move.

"I suppose you always were willfully naive."

He collected a tear on his finger and lifted it up to gaze at it.

"You really think you're his sister?" Gary asked, putting on an expression of concern. "Are you _that_ desperate for a family that you'll cling to any idiot who says he likes you?"

Kaiyou stared at him, teeth grinding as her fists clenched, "He _is_ my brother."

Gary flicked her tear from his hand, "Is he? _Is_ he?" he glanced over to where Sora lay on the ground, unmoving, "More like _was_ at this point." Throwing back his head, he laughed.

Tears stung her eyes as she looked towards Sora, then at Riku and Kairi. _'Failed... I failed them!'_

Leaning forward, Gary grinned, "That's right," he purred, almost as if reading her mind. While she doubted he had that power, she knew _he_ knew her well enough to know her thoughts. "That's right, dear little Kaiyou. You screwed up again. How many times is that now?"

"Shut up!"

"You know, you really haven't helped anyone at all. They could have dealt with their problems just fine on their own. They didn't need your meddling. You only made things worse!"

She seethed, breath hissing between her teeth.

"Toontown, for example," Gary continued, spreading his hands, "You killed Doom, but... did you really get rid of the Organization Thirteen threat there? No. Do you know what they did to the place once you left?" Kaiyou's eyes widened. "That's right." Slowly taking motion, Gary strode around behind her, forcing Kaiyou to crane her neck to keep him in sight. "They're all dead. Eddie, Roger, Benny, Doris... That café you worked at briefly – dust!"

"You're lying!" Kaiyou cried, trying to deny his words. "You're a fat liar!"

"Really now!" Gary laughed. "You think _I_ would have just let them be?"

Where his argument before had not convinced her, his self assured condescending tone sent chills down her spine. He moved around in front of her once more. "The Salem witches were idiots. Max and his girlfriend could have killed them easily. In fact, _Dani_ could have killed them. You were completely redundant there."

"That's not true," Kaiyou denied, struggling to keep from letting her uncertainty show.

"All they had to do was stall till the sun came up. Max did that quite easily, actually, what with his taking the potion... The best part of all, though?" Gary grinned as he leaned in near her face, "It was all for nothing. After you left, I returned. I set fire to Max's house. I destroyed the school. I took that lovely blonde and crucified her in the graveyard – after I had my way, of course."

He moved back a step and grinned broadly – eyes bright with mad glee. "You couldn't even defeat Seymour. You would have just gotten in the way in Radiant Garden, and here you are, completely useless once again! Everything you touch breaks. Everything you try to do, fails – if it wasn't for the intervention of those idiots," he gestured towards Sora, "you would have destroyed the universe by now... Just whose side _are_ you on, anyway?"

"_My_ side!" she shouted, squeezing her shut. Shaking her head, she turned her head away, "Leave me alone Gary! You're _wrong_! You're _WRONG_!"

Gary sighed, "If you'd just come with me in the first place, I wouldn't have had to kill them." He pointed out, holding his hand towards her. "Now, are you going to come along, or do I have to destroy this world too?"

"You'll have to kill me," Kaiyou snapped back.

Gary grasped her shoulder; calling his blade forth and set the tip to her stomach.

He smiled.


	84. Echoes of a Dream

_Chapter 84_

_(Echoes of a Dream)_

_Hoooo..._

_...kshhh_

_Hoooo..._

_...kshhh_

She was reluctant to open her eyes.

'_Familiar sound...'_

It sounded like the ocean. It was timed with her breathing.

'_Any moment... any moment now Goofy and Donald will come running up!'_

But the sound wasn't right. The warmth wasn't right.

She was lying on her back with something cold dripping down her left arm. Generally she was numb, but not from sleep. This was some other, more insidious numbness that made her cold to the core.

A door opened, forcing her to come to terms with the fact that she was not lying on a beach.

She opened her eyes at last – to find an unfamiliar ceiling.

Her fingers flexed as she blinked away grit, irritated by the bandage covering her left eye and wrapped around her head. She felt like she'd been hit by a train...

"Kaiyou? Can you hear me Kaiyou?"

Breath catching, Kaiyou's gaze focused only to find one of the _last_ people she ever wanted to see again standing beside her.

Gail didn't look like she had changed a bit. She was still short, barely five feet tall, plump, and irritated. She was standing, clutching the railing on Kaiyou's hospital bed, knuckles turning white.

A moan of terror began to rise in Kaiyou's throat and Gail leaned forward, "You'd better be afraid!" she threatened, "You're grounded for life! You're going to _wish_ you had died in that crash!"

'_Crash?'_ Kaiyou's blood went cold, recalling the only crash Gail would have known about – the train crash that had sent Kaiyou to Destiny Islands where Donald and Goofy had picked her up.

Gasping in sudden aching pain, Kaiyou stared at her last foster mother, her thoughts fluttering in her mind like caged butterflies.

_'Was it a dream? Was it all a dream? No! no - no! NO! I don't WANT to be back here!'_ she sobbed and closed her eyes, turning her face away from the dark haired woman.

"Now you listen to me, Kaiyou!" Gail stated - about to go into her Disciplining mode. Gail believed that all the foster children needed was a solid roof and a stern parental influence. Screwing her expression in rage, Gail shouted back, "I knew you were trouble the day we took you in! You're not going to get the chance to pull this ever again! You're going to be under constant watch."

Too furious for words, Kaiyou struggled to free herself from the bedding, from the gown that was tangled around her, from the wires hooking her to the monitoring equipment and IV. The edge of her vision turned hazy-red as she struggled to get hold of Gail's throat, the urge to strangle the woman overwhelming. Warring with her urge to do bodily harm was the pain, radiating from her abdomen, making her breath quick and ragged.

The door opened.

"Ma'am-" the man in the door started to say as he rushed in to restrain Kaiyou.

The pain finally won, and just as she got her hands on Gail, darkness dropped over her.

* * *

The door opened and not wanting to expend the energy of turning her head, Kaiyou rolled her eyes towards it. A doctor stepped into the room with Gail beside her. "We completely understand your reasons, Missus Landry," why did doctors all have to speak in the plural? Kaiyou's lips turned downwards as they pretended that she wasn't laying there staring at them. "But I don't think this is the right thing to do with your daughter."

"We just don't have the money to keep her in the hospital forever," Gail said. Kaiyou's heart-rate went up as she stared at the doctor and her foster mother, discussing her fate as if she had no choice in it. "If she recovers, she recovers, whether it's here or at home. I just think she'd be happier at home."

_'I'd be happier away from you. I'd be happier with Laguna, and Sora, and Goofy and Donald, and Roxas, and Riku. I'd be happier with my friends who actually know me, and care.'_ Closing her eyes, Kaiyou sighed softly, trying to hold back her tears, unaware that the doctor and Gail had turned towards her at that moment.

"She's stable now, isn't she?" Gail's voice asked, coming closer to Kaiyou.

"Yes," the doctor said, "That incident right after her surgery set things back quite a bit though. ...There was quite a lot of internal damage. I think the head-trauma may have done something to her personality as well, since you said she's never been violent before?" Kaiyou sensed Gail nod. "She'll probably need medications and therapy for that as well." He sighed, "Alright, but we'll need to make regular checkups on her till her wounds fully heal and after that... once every four weeks should do. I caution you, Missus Landry, there's a possibility that she'll never recover her full mental capabilities."

_'Oh joy. I've been sentenced to the Short Bus,'_ Kaiyou thought sourly - then realized belatedly that something like that should have been Umi's department. Kaiyou nearly burst out sniggering; managing to contain it with little more than a wince crossing her face.

Relaxing once more, Kaiyou sighed and called, _'Umi?'_

The lack of answer sent a chill down her spine. She called louder, _'Umi?'_

Still, nothing.

Opening her eyes again, she found that Gail and the doctor had left, and silently, she seethed in fury. _'Umi! Answer me!'_ she screamed into the darkness.

Summoned by some unknown signal, a nurse came in, quickly hurrying to the machines stationed beside Kaiyou's bed. "You need to remain calm, young lady," the nurse, a man, stated firmly. "Or we'll have to do your surgery over again – for the third time."

Shortly after he said that, a wave of dizziness washed over her, and falling back into the bed, she stared up at the whirling ceiling. "We're keeping you sedated," he told her. She couldn't even focus on his face as he leaned over her to take her pulse.

Fury still kept her awake, watching him until he finally left, _'How dare you!'_ was her last thought before exhaustion caught her finally.

* * *

The sun was shining in her eyes through the gauzy curtains across the room, and slowly, Kaiyou rolled her head to get away from the light. Noise was the next thing she noticed.

"Gary! Give it back!"

It took a moment for Kaiyou to recognize the voice as Erin. "That's my homework!"

"I'm just looking it over for you."

"It's too _late_ to look it over! I need to turn it in today! Give it back!"

Kaiyou found herself grinding her teeth and slowly sat up in bed, only to realize that it was her bed. She was sore from lying in the same position for too long and shoved the blankets aside. Her head spun as she got to her feet and had to steady herself with the wall.

The time, on her alarm clock on the night stand next to her bed showed seven-fifteen. No wonder the light was in her eyes.

Gail would be trying to get everyone in the car and to school shortly.

Not daring to close her eyes, for fear of falling over, Kaiyou breathed carefully as she stood there, trying to think. How long had she been out?

There were a few times where she recalled opening her eyes – or getting them opened. Doctors, Gary, Gail, sometimes Erin and Alisa were in the room. Finally, she gave up trying and decided she was hungry and needed to get a bath.

Scratching her stomach, she winced and pulled her shirt up to take a look. There – slashed diagonally across her abdomen was an inflamed scar. _'So I had to have been out long enough for that to heal,'_ she reasoned. _'Did they keep me sedated the whole time?'_ She blinked and swayed, then took a step forward.

Thankfully, Gail insisted upon her foster children keeping their rooms clean, so there weren't any obstacles in Kaiyou's way to the door. The closet door was slightly open, and she ended up shutting it as she used it as a prop to get across the room.

The blue carpeting was the same as it had always been. The walls were sterile white. Gail's pictures, all the same size, were absolutely level and in line. Scowling at the picture of herself with the rest of Gail's brood as she came to it, Kaiyou plucked it off the wall and dropped it to the floor before continuing on towards the bathroom. The picture thumped when it hit the floor, but did not break.

Gail was shouting downstairs, "Gary, that's enough, give Erin her homework and get in the car."

'_Good, they'll be leaving soon,'_ Kaiyou felt nauseous as she finally came to the bathroom and somehow, making it across the room in time, dropped to her knees to empty the contents of her stomach into a proper receptacle for it. Trembling by the time she was done, she pulled the handle to flush as she dropped back against the wall beneath the roll of paper. It was empty, she noted. Not unusual in a house with so many people in it, but she knew who was to blame for not refilling it. Gary never did. Gary always used the last of everything and forgot to tell anyone there wasn't any left.

'_Selfish prick.'_

Actually starting to feel a little more clear-headed, Kaiyou crawled towards the sink and pulled herself to her feet to wash her face and rinse her mouth.

Hair slicked back from her face and wet, Kaiyou lifted her head to look in the mirror.

She had always hated the bathroom the most. There was a mirror above the toilet, one behind the door, one above the sink, one on the other side of the room from the sink next to the tub. So many mirrors, it felt like her emptiness could only be reflected back so many times before it was lost in the nothing that she was.

Something... felt different this time, though, as she looked into her eyes. Something whole, but not wholly herself was staring back now – and she didn't like it. Fist balling on the counter, she lifted it slowly, intending to destroy the reflection.

"Kaiyou! You're up!"

Turning, Kaiyou looked down at Gail and lowered her fist. "You can come down to breakfast and take your medications then. I'll drive you to school after I take everyone else. You've skipped too much as it is. John is here still, so don't think you can just sneak off either!"

Grinding her teeth, Kaiyou remained silent as Gail breezed down the stairs, slamming the front door as she left.

'_I'm going to school?'_ she asked Umi.

Only silence answered her.

'_...Umi?'_

Lifting her eyes towards the mirror again, she stared into it, searching for some sign, some hint that her other half was there. She could remember everything Umi had said and done, everything that had happened to Kosuiko, all compartmentalized like the other lives they were, but at the same time... neither seemed to be present.

'_Umi? Please! Answer! You said you'd never leave me!'_

"Kaiyou!"

This time it was John's voice, from downstairs, she guessed from the kitchen, judging by the sound of water running. "Get down here and eat something so you can take your medication."

Fury welled up and seeped out like magma as Kaiyou pushed off the sink and staggered towards the bathroom door. Somehow, she made it down the stairs without falling, and into the kitchen. Staggering to a stop in the doorway, her eyes scanned the smallish kitchen-dining room combination with a door leading out to the backyard directly in front of her, the cupboards and sink were in the corner on the left side of that door while the slightly-too-large table was stuffed into the right side of the room. John was at the sink and he turned slightly, pointing a wet hand at the table.

"Sit down and eat your breakfast."

"Shut up, you patsy," she snapped. His hands paused from rinsing out the bowls everyone had used for breakfast earlier. "All you ever do is parrot what Gail says. You ever thought for yourself? Ever thought that maybe the reason you two never fight is because you aren't _man_ enough to stand up for yourself? Well, I'm tired of being walked on too. When you grow some balls, _maybe_ I'll pay attention to what you have to say."

John went white as he stared at her. He was a big man, but not handsome in the least. He was a computer programmer with a good income and no children of his own. "You sit down and be quiet," he ordered, but his voice trembled as Kaiyou stared him down.

"No." Kaiyou replied and turned away, struggling to get back up the steps and to her room where she could find some clean clothes. Her hair felt awful, she needed a bath and to brush her teeth; especially if she was going to go to school today. _'Not that I'm really in any shape to.'_

Already she was starting to ache from too much running up and down the stairs. But she forced herself to continue; back into the bathroom where she closed and locked the door, then undressed to get a shower.

It took her a lot longer than normal to get clean, but once she had, she felt at least a little better. Wrapping a towel around herself, she took a seat on the toilet and took a smaller towel to dry her hair.

'_I can't believe I said that to John... I ... I always knew he was unhappy with Gail. She's controlling and a nag, but... to have said that to him...'_ She looked up and turned slightly to look at her reflection again.

'_There's plenty to reflect now, it seems. ...and it's dark and ugly.'_

Her thoughts were broken by someone slamming their fist on the door several times. "Kaiyou Smith! You open this door right now or I'm going to break it down!"

"And you can clean up the mess after," Kaiyou retorted, "When the mirror on the back breaks, and I have to walk through all the glass barefoot. Maybe you should practice a little patience and let me get dressed first?"

"Don't you talk back to me!" Gail snapped, "I won't have it."

"No wonder you never could breed any children of your own," Kaiyou found herself retorting, "God must have known you didn't know what Love meant, or Patience." Kaiyou picked her sports bra off the counter beside her and began the painful process of getting dressed.

She chose to wear pants and a baggy tee-shirt, her usual attire, but the pants were as close to green as her wardrobe offered and the shirt was black. _'I miss my magic clothes. They looked good on me.'_

Getting to her feet, she shuffled across the room and unlocked the door, even as Gail was still banging on it. She was careful to stand back afterwards as Gail slammed it open. "What makes you think you have the right to lock this door, young lady?"

"The right to take a shower in privacy in a house with six people living in it? Or am I now the neighborhood's peepshow? Sorry, but you're not going to get anything for it. Even guys who dig little boys aren't going to pay for this body." As Gail stood there, mouth open, Kaiyou shuffled past her and carefully made her way down the stairs. "Where did my other clothes go?" she asked, "The green pants and black and gold shirt?" She looked over her shoulder, up at Gail, who was now red-faced.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Gail snapped and stalked down the stairs. "Now you're going to take your medicines and get your tail to school!"

"Why bother?" Kaiyou asked, stopping at the door to the kitchen, "I make shitty grades anyway. I'm never going to get into college. I have no ambition in life. I'm not good at anything. I may as well just jump off a bridge or something for all it'd matter to the economy. One more body not taking up space."

That was apparently not what Gail wanted to hear, and before Kaiyou could move, the short woman's hand snapped out, striking Kaiyou across the cheek. "Watch your mouth, young lady! Now get your breakfast," Gail growled, "And take your medications."

'_I can throw them up later,'_ Kaiyou decided as she finally complied with Gail's demands.

* * *

"He doesn't look starving."

"I bet he whored himself out for food."

"Eew!"

Kaiyou tried to close her ears to the whispers in the classroom as they waited for the bell to ring. Apparently, rumors had spread about Kaiyou's disappearance. Still, people were confused on her gender. Not that Kaiyou cared much.

Finally someone came closer. One of the girls Kaiyou knew had a crush on her. "Hey," the girl whispered. Kaiyou didn't even know the girl's name. Maybe it was Mandy? "Hey, Kaiyou," she whispered. She was a short girl, brunet, brown eyes, a little pudgy. "What _really_ happened while you were gone? Everyone's just making up things and – you didn't really sell yourself for money, did you?" Kaiyou could hear her voice quivering as she came to the verge of tears.

Only a few seconds more and the teacher would come in and Kaiyou wouldn't have to answer.

'_How do I tell them I went on a fantastic journey through space and saved worlds and found my family only to lose them again to that asshole that's sitting at the front of the class – right in front of me – like he's been here the whole time!'_

"Leave me alone," Kaiyou opted to say instead, which hurt Mandy's feelings and the girl sat back in her seat, spurned by Kaiyou's refusal to speak on the subject.

'_They'd just think I was crazy anyway. I need to try to call for help – call for Sora, or Riku. Somehow maybe get my Keyblade to respond.'_ But class wasn't the right place to do that. It would only cause problems and she wasn't ready to face off against Gary again so soon. _'I need... to be clear headed. And healed.'_

At last the teacher entered and the class fell silent.

The rest of Kaiyou's classes were like that as well, and thankfully they never called on her to answer anything. It was obvious she hadn't done the homework, or read the assignments. She'd been gone. So she stared blankly at the teachers as they lectured, didn't bother taking notes, and quietly seethed. She'd gotten the chance to hit the bathroom once she got into the building and coughed up her medications, but that also meant her pain killer was gone too.

Lunch was another hazardous time. Deciding to not bother getting anything to eat, she simply limped over to a seat near the wall and collapsed into it, putting her head down on the table. The world was spinning a little and the pain was beginning to make her feel more than a bit nauseous. Someone took a seat beside her.

"So – I heard you ran away," the someone turned out to be Buddy James, one of Gary's friends out of school, "did drugs, got into a bunch of gang fights, dug in garbage cans for food, and finally got hit by a car before they caught you and dragged you back here. After only making it to the next town over. Wow. You're really pathetic." He burst out laughing. As did several others – more of Gary's gang. Kaiyou sighed and rolled her head slightly to look at Buddy.

"Leave me alone," she told him.

"Or what? You'll whine at me? You'll look _emo_ and get your herd of lesbians to come trample us?"

"I can and will kick your ass," Kaiyou replied blandly.

Her words brought on plenty of laughter from the rest of the group; four of them by her count. Kaiyou clenched her teeth and somehow endured.

Mostly, it was because she could do little else.

At least their presence kept others away. Probably Gary had told them to go keep her company. She didn't put it past Gary to use his minions like that.

* * *

By the end of the day when Gail came to pick them up, she was barely able to see straight as she sat in her desk as everyone else filed out. She let them all go first; let them all get their things and leave – so she could use the wall for support and not get knocked into.

No one messed with her, thankfully.

Finally, the school was fairly empty, except the teacher was sitting at his desk, staring at her. "Aren't you going to leave?"

Casting him a dark look, she picked her bag up and got to her feet – only to feel something in her abdomen twinge.

Gasping, she dropped the bag again and caught herself on her desk, clutching it with one hand to her stomach. Trembling, she tried to stay on her feet. The teacher had rushed over while she wasn't looking and was babbling something – but a voice cut across his.

"There you are, Kaiyou! I was worried!"

Gary came striding across the room and grabbed Kaiyou's bag, "Sorry mister Craft," he said to the teacher, "I guess her medications wore off. C'mon," and before Kaiyou could protest, he pulled her arm over his shoulder and had her limping along. "I'll help you to the car. It's alright."

"I...hate...you." Kaiyou wheezed through the dizziness and pain.

"Hm? Sorry, I didn't hear that?"

Managing to lift her head, she looked up at him. She could feel his Darkness, oozing off him. "So," she said, "That's why you weren't harassing me all the time. You were here. Pretending to be a good boy."

He stared at her in confusion, "...I guess that wreck really did something to you," he sighed.

Not believing him in the least, Kaiyou let her head hang as they made it to the front doors of the school. How they had gotten there was a blur to her, but Gail was waiting, and looked rather pissed. "Found her!" Gary called. "She was just waiting for everyone to get out so she didn't have to get knocked around in the hall," he said. "Her meds wore off, I think."

"Oh man," Erin said, leaning out the SUV's back window, "She's white as a sheet! Didn't know that was possible."

Loading Kaiyou into the car, Gary buckled her in and closed the door before heading around to the front seat. Alisa sighed, "This sucks. I'm going to miss watching Teenage Musical because _you're_ slow."

"I'll rip your eyes out," Kaiyou muttered.

Alisa leaned away, "Gail! She threatened to rip my eyes out!"

Gary turned, "She's just grouchy cause she hurts bad, she wouldn't really."

Silently seething all the way back to the house, Kaiyou was forced to allow Gary to help her out again and up the stairs to her bed. "I'll bring you something to drink and your meds."

"I don't want them."

"They're just to help you," he insisted.

"They won't fix me," Kaiyou's eyes watered and she clamped her teeth together to keep from saying anything more to him. He _was_ being incredibly nice, but she knew it was for his own purposes.

Gary sat beside her and with a kind smile, ruffled her hair. "Hey. C'mon. You and I, we've been in the same boat for years; floating around from house to house. I know meds won't fix it... but... when you ran away..." he lowered his hands to his lap, clasping his fingers together, "I got to thinking. ...The drugs and stuff I'd been doing – it wasn't fixing it. It wasn't helping anything. I realized... I really care for you. You're the only one I've known for longer than a year." He sighed and glanced towards her, his bangs partially in his pretty blue eyes. Kaiyou stared at his angel-face and glared. "I know saying I'm sorry probably won't make it up to you. I did do a lot of nasty things to you. But I am sorry. I hope I can make it up to you."

"Go away."

Sighing, Gary got to his feet and shook his hair from his face, "I'll get your meds and be right back."

Turning, he left the room.

Taking his roiling Darkness with him; but Kaiyou still didn't feel clean, even with him out of the room. She rubbed her stomach. _'Obsidian Heart. He cut me with it... I've been poisoned with his Darkness. I'm... tainted. No wonder I feel like this.'_

Gary returned then, with a glass of water and two prescription bottles. He was reading the labels. "This one's your pain med," he said and handed a pill to her and the glass of water. Glowering, she took the pill and knocked it back. He handed her another pill. "This one's your... I'm not sure what it's for."

"Personality fixer," Kaiyou muttered.

He snorted and watched as she took that pill as well, then left the glass with her. "I'll let you get some rest and then help you with your homework. You've missed over a month and a half."

"I don't need help."

Gary just smiled at her and left the room again, leaving Kaiyou to flop over on her side on the bed, closing her eyes. _'Just for a moment...'_

* * *

When she woke, it was midnight, and her stomach was protesting not being fed in many hours. Sitting up slowly, she pushed the blanket that had been pulled over her aside and peered through the darkness. Erin and Alisa were quite asleep.

Quietly as she could, Kaiyou turned on her bedside lamp and opened the drawers to her nightstand. Searching through the things inside, she did not find any of her belongings from her journey. Getting up, she made it to her dresser without making a sound and searched in there as quietly as she could.

No sign of her clothes either.

The closet did not yield her shoes, or clothes, and finally, Kaiyou returned to her bed to turn off the lamp and carefully crept out of the room.

Past the downstairs bathroom, was the laundry room, where Kaiyou proceeded to go through every article of dirty clothes, looking for some sign of her adventure.

'_It DID happen,'_ she told herself firmly. _'It's not all just wishful thinking. I mean – I've NEVER done drugs or anything like that. I wouldn't have started now. I did dig in garbage bins a little for food, but ...I only remember a week or so before hopping onto that train and watching it explode. So there's a lot of missing time.'_

Finally ending her fruitless task, Kaiyou headed for the kitchen to find something small to snack on.

'_I guess the real test would be my Keyblade,'_ she decided as she sat down with a bowl of cereal.

After finishing eating, she stood and stepped away from the table. _'Here goes...'_

Closing her eyes, she reached for that feeling she always got when she called her Keyblade. Fingers stretching, she reached for it, grasping for – her fingers closed over something, but it was decidedly not a Keyblade.

"What're you doing?"

Opening her eyes, she found her fingers wrapped tightly around Gary's wrist. His pretty blue eyes were gazing down at her past his blue-pajama-clad arm, his hair partially in his face, loose around his shoulders in black waves. He looked like a dark angel.

Staring at him, she asked flatly, "What about you? Where have you been for the last month?"

Gary blinked at her a few times, "Here," he replied. "I wanted to go look for you, but..."

Releasing his arm, Kaiyou wiped it on her pants, which were still the ones she had worn to school. "What were you doing a second ago?" Gary asked again.

"Nothing," she answered, putting a sweet note into her voice. If he wanted to play stupid, she could too. "Nothing at all." She left the milk on the table and walked past him, heading back upstairs to her room – refuge. It was a place Gary wasn't allowed in at night. It was the only place she was safe at night. Erin and Alisa weren't easily woken, but they could be.

Slipping into the room, she undressed and put on her bed clothes and climbed into bed.

* * *

AN: sorry it's a bit late. I got distracted with something. Additionally... how did you all like last chapter? heh. I figured I'd let Gary have the last line and not bother with an author's note or anything.

Next Chapter: Remnants of a team - what can they do but fight on for their fearless leader? Even when they never had hope to begin with, what's it matter anyway? It's something to do at any rate. Maybe if they keep trying, they'll find it in the lost items box...


	85. Lost Items Box

_Chapter 85_

_(Lost Items Box)_

Squeezing his eyes briefly, Sora yawned, then gasped and sat up sharply. "Kaiyou!"

Turning, he looked around, only to find himself alone in what looked like a hospital room. Shoving the blanket off, he got to his feet, finding that he was perfectly alright and had probably been healed by potions. Although his shoes seemed to have disappeared, leaving him in his socks, padding across the cold tiles to the door, which he opened and looked out.

"Looks like he's awake now," a bland voice stated – Riku's, Sora identified, and headed down the hall to the waiting area where he found Riku, Kairi, Laguna, and Ellone. Kairi had some kind of hot drink. Riku was simply glowering at the floor as he propped up one of the pillars in a position that afforded him a view down the hall Sora had come from. Ellone and Laguna were sharing a couch and at least looked relieved.

"You lazy bum," Kairi smiled up at Sora, but her smile faded and she looked down again.

"You were out just as long as he was," Riku felt obligated to point out, "In short," Riku stated, "Kaiyou was taken. But that was yesterday."

Sora clenched his fists, "We... just weren't strong enough. I can't believe he just..."

"Kicked us around, played with us, and finally took what he wanted and left?" Riku finished for Sora when his friend couldn't find the words. Sora simply nodded. "Me either. ...What's worse... he's tainted Kaiyou."

"What?" Lifting his head, Sora turned to face Riku as the silver haired boy pointed at the charm at his throat. A swirl of the darkest black now marred the otherwise perfect crystal.

Riku continued with his bad news, "It's probably only a matter of time before it spreads, and... I can't contact her at all through this. We've been waiting for you to wake up so you can try."

Immediately, Sora nodded and put a hand to his heart as he closed his eyes, focusing with all his power on trying to call his twin. _'Kaiyou! Kaiyou! Are you there? Please! Answer me!'_

Only his own voice echoed back along the link.

Opening his eyes, Sora shook his head, "I can't ...even feel her."

Ellone put her face in her hands even as Laguna put his arms around her. "We'll get her back. I promise," he said softly to his wife.

Sora shook his head, "Dad – I – I need you to stay here."

"But Sora!" Laguna objected.

Again, Sora shook his head, "No! You can't come. Gary is very powerful and very evil..."

Riku pushed off the pillar and came to stand beside Sora. "Gary keeps using those we care about against us. You would become a liability. Sora and I – we can fight without getting distracted. But if others were to come, we would worry... We have to put our full attention on this fight."

Relieved that Riku understood what he had been trying to say, Sora nodded, "I was so worried about Kaiyou and Kairi that I – I kept messing up. I'm sorry Kairi," he looked towards her, "I really care about you and – and..."

"And we don't want to see you hurt. We can take Gary on, but we need to be sure that nothing will distract us from the goal – getting Kaiyou back safely... and disposing of Gary," Riku finished.

Laguna sighed softly, hugging Ellone a little more tightly before he nodded. "I understand," he said. "You two are a team and adding anything else to the mix just distracts you."

Sora and Riku nodded. "We'll get Kaiyou back. Promise!" Sora clasped a fist and pumped it.

"Let's see if we can get a Gummi ship – since it's the two of us then," Riku said, then glanced towards Laguna. "Yours handles like a whale."

Laguna actually managed a bit of a laugh at that one before sobering again. "Alright. Please come back safe."

"We will, Dad. ...But uh, before I go... Where're my shoes?"

* * *

Getting a Gummiship had been a relatively easy task, and now they were circling Disney Castle after having stopped by to give the King an update on the situation. Riku sat back in his seat at the weapons and sighed, stretching his feet out in front of him, hands lacing behind his head as he stared out the front window. Roxas and Sora had split once again and had taken the ship operations and pilot seat respectively.

"So... if we can't feel Kaiyou," Roxas said, sitting in the ship-ops seat and kicking his feet against the floor, "How do we find her?"

Riku looked out towards Gummi space for a moment longer before stating, "We'll look in the obvious place first. The World that Never Was – see if they've got her there."

To that, Sora nodded. "Sounds like a good idea as any."

Taking hold of the controls, he turned the ship and started off in the direction of the World that Never was, skipping through the paths of Light easily.

"Things really calmed down once Maleficent was taken out. We're not even having any trouble with the Nobodies..." Roxas pointed out as they made their way completely unmolested.

Riku nodded, having sat up to watch for any incoming attackers. "I suspect Gary might have something to do with that."

Nothing was moving on the radar at all and Riku didn't like it. In record time, they made it to the World that Never Was and Riku couldn't help but wonder, "Why's everything lead back here...?"

"It's like a black hole," Roxas replied, "sucking everything down the tube."

"Wow," Riku turned to look at the blonde, "You're in a dark mood."

"It's this place." Roxas shrugged slightly and got to his feet to rejoin Sora as the brunet headed for the teleport pad. Riku got up and followed, closing his eyes in time to get transported down to the world's surface.

Sora had decided to use one of his pre-set locations in the castle itself, rather than leave them to trudge through the whole world. That was fine with Riku; it was more likely that they would find the answers in the castle anyway.

* * *

They had been wandering the castle for hours. Roxas had suggested that they start from the bottom and work their way up, looking for clues, and Riku had agreed. Neither of them had quite remembered clearly how huge the Castle that Never Was really _was_ though. Opening a door, the pair – Sora and Riku – stepped into yet another room, only a few levels up from the dungeons in the basement, and found a startling wreck. The room was a mess; tools and equipment were scattered across work benches and the floor, as if there had been a brawl. The lockers on the other side of the room were shattered and twisted, a hole had been blasted in the ceiling somehow, and seven large tubes in one corner were dark, empty, and severely damaged, as was the control panel they were hooked up to.

Riku stepped into the room carefully and looked around.

"Wow, musta been a fight in here!" Sora mused, stating the obvious as he wandered over to the tubes, where he stopped and stared, as if transfixed.

There was something... but he couldn't quite recall...

"Sora!"

Blinking, Sora turned to look at Riku, wondering when his friend had come to stand beside him and how long he'd been there. "Huh?" he stared up at Riku, mouth open, eyes wide.

"You shouldn't let your mind wander," Riku sighed, "It's too small to be out on its own." He stepped away from Sora and moved behind the tubes, looking.

"Hey!" Sora bristled.

"Well, nothing here that hasn't already been destroyed," Riku stated, heading for the door.

"We just got here..." Sora pouted.

"No, you were standing there for at least five minutes. There was a fight in here, the winner destroyed what was left and took off. There's nothing here."

Still, Sora hesitated, "You're sure?"

Riku gave him a long hard look, "You're welcome to look again if you like, but there's nothing here." Turning, Riku stepped out the door and into the hall again, heading for the room across the hall. _'Can't help but feel I'm wasting time here...'_

He waited quietly for a response from Kaiyou, but there was none and after a moment longer, he continued to go through the room. This one was in much better shape than the other. It also didn't have anything in it worth mentioning. Merely a table and chair in a sterile, empty room.

He stepped back out as Sora finally joined him.

"What was in there?" the brunet asked.

"A table and a chair," Riku replied, slightly annoyed.

"No secret passages anywhere?" Sora asked, recalling the table in the mansion in Twilight Town.

Riku sighed and stepped back into the room to let Sora have a look. After pushing the table around, turning it on its side, and patting down the floor, Sora finally conceded that the room was indeed empty.

Moving on, they headed further down the hall. However, there were not any more doors before an intersection of the hall they were in and another hall. "This place is a rat's warren," Riku muttered, "We may never find anything here."

"We could look for someone?" Sora offered.

"Like Gary would leave anyone here?" Riku replied, "He's probably eaten them... like he ate Maleficent."

Roxas shuddered – which in turn made Sora tremble a little at the recollection of his Nobody. "I guess you're right. We're lucky he left us alive... why, I don't know."

"Maybe he thought we were dead?" Riku pondered.

"Maybe we weakened him more than we thought we did?" Roxas put in, using Sora's lips as they crossed the intersecting hall. Riku habitually glanced left and right, finding nothing but empty hall and doors. "Or he got distracted? Something might have happened that he had to take Kaiyou and go quickly?"

"Mn – I smell a pair of rats... that are really bad at sneaking."

Freezing in their steps, Sora and Riku turned, drawing their Keyblades as a figure in a black coat stepped out from around the corner they had just passed.

Lifting a hand, the figure laughed slightly as he tossed back his hood to reveal red hair and a familiar face, "Hey now, I'm on your side, remember, Roxas?" While the face wasn't exactly Axel's, the voice was, and before Sora could even blink, Roxas had split and thrown himself at the redhead, who returned the hug, then ruffled the blonde's hair.

"Axel – You're alright!" Sora grinned, bouncing on his toes.

"Actually... I'm Reno, but I guess you can call me Axel still. It's fine either way."

From the same corner, another figure in a black cloak stepped out and shoved his hood back, revealing the bald Hispanic man in sunglasses. "So anyway," Reno stated, "Mind if we tag along? You seem to be up to no good – and we're kinda bored."

"We're looking for Aros," Riku stated. "Gary took her."

"Gary hasn't been back here in a while," Reno replied with a shrug. "Xemnas and what's left of his pack have been up to no good, though. Fiddling with a heart-stealing raygun or something. Hojo's buggered off with his experiments and that's probably not the last of him." He gestured back the way Riku and Sora had just come as he said that. "Mal's not been around, and neither have any of the other Princes. This place's been empty as a ghost town for quite some time."

Riku frowned slightly as he thought on that. "We've killed Rufus, Kefka, and Shuyin. Seymour and Sephiroth are MIA. We're hunting down Gary."

"The last Prince unaccounted for is Kuja, but I think he's not interested in a fight just yet," Reno replied.

"Maybe Xemnas knows where Gary is?" Sora suggested.

"He needs his ass kicked anyway," Riku agreed and turned, heading onwards without waiting for the others.

Reno scratched the side of his head and sighed, "Impatient as ever..."

Roxas snorted, "You expected anything else?"

"Not really."

"So where are Xemnas and whoever's left?" Riku asked once the others had caught up to him.

"Up on their little platform, goggling at Kingdom Hearts," Reno flicked his hand as if he could care less. "Saix and Xaldin are up there too. Marluxia's turned coat again. Xigbar's disappeared altogether, and the rest... I guess you killed because they haven't been around in quite some time either."

Sora nodded, "Right, well. I've fought them all before. They're not too tough!"

"Sora, I point out it took me and you fighting Xemnas to beat him, and even then we barely made it out."

Pausing briefly, Sora thought on that, then moved to catch up again, "Yeah, I remember, but now we've got Reno and..." he looked at the silent guy.

"Rude," the man said and then fell silent again.

"Yeah. We've got these two to help us! It'll work!"

Reno was shaking his head but only Rude noticed.

"I guess asking Xemnas where Gary went is our best option then," Roxas stated. "He'll probably talk. He likes the sound of his own voice too much."

With that, Sora burst into a jog, taking the lead.

* * *

The large heart-shaped moon glowing in the sky lit the platform with its milky light. Stumbling to a stop at the top of the stairs, Sora looked around, Keyblade drawn. Roxas came to a stop beside him and Riku on his other side. Ahead, Xemnas, Xaldin, and Saix stood, Xaldin carrying a large gun with a strange bell-shaped nozzle on the end – almost like a vacuum instead of a gun.

"Xemnas!" Sora shouted. "What've you done with Aros?"

The Superior turned and gazed at Sora with a bland look. "Aros? I haven't seen her," he admitted.

"What about Gary?" Riku asked, having not bothered to take a fighting stance yet, since it was more likely that Xemnas would want to pontificate before getting down to the dirty business of fighting.

If Xemnas could have, he would have looked irritated. However, he wasn't capable of that emotion, and thus, stared at Riku just as blandly as before. "That little traitor? I will, unfortunately, have to go find for him soon, since he's taken the Amplifier and the Key to Darkness with him; Eternal Nocturne." Xemnas turned his back towards them for a moment. "However, now that you're here, I may not need that blade at all."

"Where has Gary gone then?" Sora demanded to know.

Xemnas turned to face them once more and smiled. Lifting his hands, he called upon his weapons – the two crimson-light blades. Beside him, Saix and Xaldin called their weapons as well.

Riku paused, looking back to find Reno and Rude making their way down the steps. "Hey! Where're you going?"

"Us?" Reno asked, turning slightly to look up with a grin, "Just to look around while you've got them distracted! I just remembered something," he waved cheerfully and continued on down the stairs and out of sight around the bend.

"You useless..." Riku growled, then turned, falling into his fighting stance, blade up in his right hand, left hand out and ready.

Sora sprang forward, just managing to avoid a shot from one of Xaldin's spears. Riku and Roxas sprang away to either side, Riku finding Saix blocking his path while Roxas was forced to face Xaldin.

Swinging his blade around, Sora's weapon rang off Xemnas's. He leapt back as Xemnas took a swing, twirling to bring his second crimson blade around in a slicing arc. Sora blocked, then shoved forward, pushing Xemnas's arm aside. He was unable to get an attack in, however, as Xemnas dodged away swiftly.

Saix's hammer-blade crashed down where Riku had been standing, nearly breaking the concrete. Riku rolled to his feet a short distance away and lifted his blade.

He closed with Saix, Keyblade slashing down – only to be blocked and shoved aside. Leaping away, Saix paused long enough to lift his weapon into the air and sped back towards Riku for a horizontal strike.

The strike cut the air just above Riku's head as the silver-haired teen dived for the ground again and rolled away. Coming up swiftly, Riku's strike hit Saix across the back, making the Nobody stumble.

Dodging back from his opponent, Riku lifted his left hand and summoned a blast of Twilight energy, which he sent towards Xaldin while he was busy chasing Roxas around the platform with his spears.

Roxas dodged and blocked the attacks, the spears ringing off his blades. When Xaldin was briefly distracted by the attack from an unexpected direction, Roxas dodged in, Oathbreaker striking a blow across the strange gun Xaldin was holding, but had yet to use. Xaldin turned partially, taking the second blow from Oathkeeper against his back as he tried to protect the gun from damage. Several spears flew in to strike back at Roxas, forcing the blonde to leap away and avoid becoming a Roxas-kabob.

Unable to ignore Saix further, Riku leapt aside as the berserker's oversized weapon cut the air in a downwards diagonal. This time, the strike did crack the pavement and Riku was quick to take advantage of the second the weapon was stuck in the ground. Keyblade a blur, Riku struck Saix three times in succession before the Nobody could block.

Sora, meanwhile, was being driven back, step by step towards the edge of the platform, doing his best to block Xemnas's attacks. His heel slipped off the edge. Tucking, Sora dived aside as Xemnas's crimson blade sliced the air over his head. Rolling to his feet again, Sora was ready for another round of attacks as the Nobody came towards him, a mask of a grin on his lips.

Dodging another spear, Roxas sprang forward to knock the next two aside with an outward swing of both is Keyblades. In seconds, he was behind Saix – an unexpected maneuver that left Xaldin at a loss for a second and Saix unprotected. Blades coming around in another double-slash, Roxas ripped through Saix's form, sending shreds of black thorns off to fade away like smoke. Ducking Saix's retaliation, Roxas turned to face Xaldin again as the Nobody finally decided to try out the gun he'd been carrying for quite some time. Xaldin, however, was not a gunner and as a result, had no idea what to do with the weapon other than point and shoot. The red glare ripped across the pavement as Roxas dodged. For a moment, while Xaldin was distracted, the spears were still in the air, and Roxas took that as his chance to attack. Leaping into the air, the blonde came down on Xaldin with a solid kick to the face, knocking the Heart Stealer gun to the ground.

Unfortunately, now that he was not holding the distracting weapon, Xaldin turned his full attention towards using his windy spears. In a concentrated mass, the eight spears sailed towards Roxas, homing in on him.

Eyes narrowing, Roxas brought his Keyblades up. Swinging Oathkeeper around, he blocked the first spear and knocked it into another. Oathbreaker was not still either, but moving in a twirling pattern that matched Oathkeeper's movements. The blades rang off the spears as Xaldin constantly brought them back into alignment and struck again. Roxas could not hold out forever.

As Saix got briefly distracted by Roxas's unexpected attack, Riku launched in and landed several more blows to the berserker's unprotected side. Beating the Nobody back, step by step, he managed to knock him into Xemnas's path as Sora dived aside.

A crimson blade sliced through Saix, and eyes widening, the berserker looked up at Xemnas – who didn't even bother to make it look like he was sorry. Slicing the blade the rest of the way through Saix, Xemnas continued on with his attack, leaving Saix to fade away into a thousand black thorns.

The momentary distraction allowed Sora to collect himself and launch into an attack on Xemnas, finally getting the upper hand. Riku joined in, moving to flank the Superior. Together, they attacked, forcing Xemnas to use his blades separately instead of against one opponent. This did not last long, however.

Dodging Sora's swing, Xemnas blocked Riku's, then turned, kicking Sora in the stomach, sending him flying into Xaldin. Turning to face Riku fully, Xemnas pressed his attack, swinging both his blades around to strike.

Sora landed hard against Xaldin, breaking the man's concentration. Roxas, now free of the constant attack, burst towards Xaldin, bringing Oathkeeper around in a downwards slash, then swung around to block one of Xaldin's spears as it came flying in.

Since he was there already, Sora rolled to his feet and attacked from the side. His blade was blocked by a spear. Batting the spear aside, Sora continued in for his intended target. Xaldin, distracted by Roxas did not see Sora's blade coming in until it was too late and it had already ripped through him.

Gasping, Xaldin glared at Sora, "This isn't the end."

His form came apart and spears fell to the ground in a clatter before they too disappeared.

Turning to look at Roxas, Sora found that his other half was winded and wounded, some of the spears having found their marks during the endless attack. Tossing a potion on him, Sora jogged to join Riku in the fight against Xemnas.

Riku sprang back from a double-bladed thrust, then came forward again, swinging his blade around to knock both blades aside. Just as his move completed, Sora took up where Riku had left off, bashing his Keyblade into Xemnas's unprotected side, then dodged back.

Roxas was only a step behind and blocked both of Xemnas's blades again as the Nobody turned to strike at Sora.

Taking a moment to breathe, Riku gulped in air, then lifted his Keyblade again to come to Roxas and Sora's aid. Before he got there, though, Xemnas slashed, knocking Roxas back and to the ground, then turned and slammed his foot into Sora once again. A second later, he had opened a dark portal and stepped through it to the other side of the platform where the Heart Stealer was lying on the ground, abandoned.

Lifting the gun, Xemnas took aim at Sora, grinning broadly as he pulled the trigger. When it didn't immediately fire, he tried again.

The gun whirred and clicked several times as Xemnas blinked and looked down at the weapon, noting the cracked casing and slightly bent barrel. Riku charged in, and instinctively, Xemnas lifted the gun, blocking with it since it was in his hands.

The explosion that followed knocked them all off their feet.

Lying on the ground, Sora stared up at the sky, blinking to try and somehow recover his senses, aware on some level that Xemnas was still alive and that wasn't a good thing. However, he felt different and couldn't quite pinpoint why. Nearby, he could see Roxas slowly rolling to his feet slowly and staggered to the left several steps.

Riku was the first to truly recover, but he paused before attacking as Xemnas slowly got to his feet. The Nobody was staring at his hands, then patted his chest, blinking as if completely confused. Sora rolled to his feet carefully, the world spinning as he did so. But he called his Keyblade to his hand, just as Roxas did and they turned to face Xemnas.

The man straightened, staring at them coldly. "I hate you," he told them, then burst out laughing as he picked up his crimson bladed weapons. "I hate you!" Still cackling like a madman, Xemnas threw himself at Riku.

Blocking Xemnas's first attack, Riku ducked under the second and had to dodge past as the man turned to stab with his first blade. Sora was there then, knocking that attack aside. Dodging behind Xemnas, Roxas struck at the man's back – Oathkeeper connecting solidly.

Staggering forward a step, Xemnas snarled, fury crossing his features, "No! You'll not kill me! Not after I got it back!" In a flurry of blows, he singled out Sora.

Unable to do anything else, Sora went on the defensive and backed away, step by step. Roxas and Riku came to his aid while Xemnas was distracted. Stabbing his blade through Xemnas's back, Riku stepped back and away as the man turned to attack him. Blood splattered the ground, flipping from Riku's Keyblade as he moved to block.

Sora hesitated, lowering his blade as his eyes widened. Roxas had not seen, or if he had, he didn't care, and came in to slash three times in quick succession. Blood, crimson as Xemnas's blades, splashed across the white floor.

Turning to defend himself, Xemnas caught Roxas's blades and shoved them aside before lifting a foot to kick the blonde. Rolling back across the floor, Roxas was stunned briefly – long enough for Xemnas to fall upon him and with another savage kick to the gut. Unable to fight, Roxas rolled into a gasping ball.

Darting across the slick ground, Riku came to the rescue. Slashing upwards across Xemnas's wounded back, another spray of blood went flying, flicking across Sora's face.

_The little brunet girl in an angel costume was running towards him, terror in her eyes... Gary looked up and smiled, hand outstretched._

"NO!" Sora cried as he dropped his blade, his hands went to his head. He fell to his knees, tears in his eyes.

Xemnas turned, catching Riku off guard, his blade slamming through the silver-haired teen's abdomen.

As he stood there, grinning, Xemnas did not see Roxas rise, lifting both his keyblades. Ruthlessly, Roxas stabbed.

Eyes widening, Xemnas coughed once, then again as blood gurgled up.

Backing away, Riku removed the sword from his gut and staggered back, hand pressed against his wound.

Slowly collapsing to his knees, Xemnas toppled to the side as Roxas pulled his blades free and stepped back.

"My..." he gasped, "Heart... I - have..." A triumphant smile curled his lips.

Blood spread in a pool around the corpse as Sora watched.

"But – he..." Sora whispered softly, "He can't bleed! He can't bleed!" Staggering to his feet, Sora collapsed to his knees in the puddle, grasping Xemnas's coat, "You can't bleed!" he shouted at the man who could no longer hear him.

"Sora," Riku wheezed, staggering forward to kneel and grasp his friend's shoulder with his left hand, the other was pressed against his wound. "Sora! Stop it! He's dead."

"He can't – he can't!" Sora objected, trembling.

Roxas approached then, staring down at the corpse, "Sora – he wasn't going to let us live. It was either him or us. At least... he seems to have gotten his heart back. Otherwise..."

"Riku!" Sora turned, grasping his best friend's front-straps, "Riku – we – we killed him! We killed someone!"

Staring down at Sora, Riku pointed out, "We killed him before and that didn't matter."

"But..." Sora whispered, trembling, "But that was different."

"Riku," Roxas stated, "here," he tossed a potion onto the silver-haired teen. "That's all I've got though."

"Hey-hey!" Reno's voice called from below, and shortly, he jogged up the remaining few steps. He'd shed the Organization coat and was now simply wearing his Turks uniform. "Well – that's unexpected," he eyed the corpse, his gaze going from Xemnas to Riku, then to Sora and Roxas. Scratching the back of his head, he said to Sora, "You get used to it."

This was _not_ what Sora wanted to hear, and the brunet staggered to his feet, dripping blood from his knees and hands. "I'm not a murderer!" he shouted. "I _won't_ get used to it!"

Roxas stood as well, "Axel, got any potions?"

"Yeah," he tossed one at the silver-haired teen and green light flashed around Riku.

Straightening, Riku breathed and lowered his hand from his abdomen. "Thanks," he said and looked down at the corpse one last time, then reached over, taking Sora's arm, pulling him away, towards the stairs.

Roxas turned, following silently.

"Here," Reno said, pulling a book from his coat, "I found this."

"Where'd you run off to anyway?" Roxas asked sourly.

"See, I remembered seeing Demyx sneaking around – and then I remembered seeing Kosuiko and put the two together and went looking there for some answers. I found that book, which said something about the Amplifier. I figured that might be useful. I can lead you back to the room I found it in."

Sora didn't respond, so Riku nodded for him.

Rude was waiting at the bottom of the steps, looking as inscrutable as ever. He silently fell in with them as Reno took the lead.

* * *

AN: This can't be true! Has FF.n let us have Asterics again?? ** -testing?

Next Chapter: A chronicle of the past, hooray for explanations! But what of the unintended consequences? Has no one any sympathy for stained innocence? Dear Diary...


	86. Dear Diary

_Chapter 86_

_(Dear Diary)_

Slipping into the room through a hidden hall, the quintet entered a large room. There was a wall of windows that looked out onto the dark city below the castle, the floor, walls, and ceiling were white, much like the décor of the rest of the Castle that Never Was. The odd part was the furniture in the room. A large canopy bed was set in the center with pale blue sheets and a quilt. There was also a vanity, and a wardrobe set against one wall. Heading over to the wardrobe curiously, Riku opened it to find adorable dresses in shades of white, pale blue, and black.

Dazed still, Sora wandered over to the bed and sat on the edge of it, staring at the floor.

Reno gestured around the room. "I'd seen Demyx sneaking around that hall out there several times and finally managed to find the mechanism that opened the door into here. I suspect this is where Kosuiko was held.

"You know, I've been wondering how the organization got her..." Roxas stated.

After shuffling through the clothes in the wardrobe, Riku closed the door and stepped away. Turning to look at the others, he folded his arms and stated, "Well, we've yet to look through that book."

Flashing a grin, Reno tossed it towards Riku. The silver-haired teen caught it and opened the book to the first page. "No author, no date..."

After a moment more, he stated, "This is Xemnas's writing though, I can tell that much..." Taking a breath, he began to read, "I've been studying the Amplifier phenomenon for quite some time, as it has appeared several times in history. This substance, unlike other Hearts is neither Dark nor Light, which allows it to reflect back the power of those it is held by. ...The Amplifier is not a natural substance, I have discovered, though what pressures created it, I do not yet know. I located a sample of Amplifier substance on a world called Gaia, in the land of Destiny Islands. The form this Amplifier has taken is that of a female child."

Riku paused to lick his lips and swallow, "Ugh. I hate Xemnas's tone."

"He's a pompous one, alright," Reno agreed. Rude simply nodded from where he stood beside Reno, arms crossed, looking mysterious and unreadable.

Continuing, Riku read, "Yada... Research on Sora's family..." this made Sora look up. "...I followed the vehicle for some distance before finally taking action. When they slowed, I made my attack. ...I found that they had already damaged the Amplifier's form, however, when I moved to capture it for myself, it looked at me as the moon covered the sun and darkness obscured my vision. Once I could see again, I found that I was grasping an empty husk. The Soul and Amplifier had escaped somehow."

Sora was frowning as he listened, brows coming together to form a crease above his nose.

"I decided to keep the husk here at the Castle that Never Was, assigning the task of watching and tending it to Demyx. My attempts to create a substance like the Amplifier failed.... Yada, more stuff that's not relevant right now," Riku muttered, flipped a few pages as he skimmed them. Finally, he stopped and read, "After conferring with Maleficent, I had discovered that, as there were seven princesses of Light, there were seven Princes of Darkness. While the Princesses could open Kingdom Hearts directly, the Princes could create a Keyblade that could transmute Kingdom Hearts into total Darkness. Five of the Princes were in Hell, the sixth was easy enough to find. The seventh, though... Maleficent and I had minions searching all over for him until I discovered King Mickey snooping around a strange world that was eclipsed by another."

"That's it!" Sora interrupted abruptly. "There was an eclipse that day – the day I first felt Aros back in this world! I'd totally forgotten about it because I was looking for you and Kairi. But there was a lunar eclipse."

Riku thought on that for a long moment, then nodded. "And from what this book says, there was a solar eclipse that day Aros disappeared in the first place."

Thinking on that, Sora closed his eyes tightly. "I – still can't totally remember... I... recall that there was something important going on at the house and... there were strange men in suits. Mom was upset. The men were nervous and..." he shoved his hands into his hair. "They yelled at me twice about going outside or opening windows... But I wanted to see the eclipse – and... Aros... I don't think anyone told Aros what was going on at all."

"So," Riku sighed, "Eclipses both ways – that's how Aros got back and forth, but where _is_ this world, and how do we get there?"

"We should ask Mickey. He found the doorway in, right?" Roxas stated blandly, pointing out the obvious. "He should be able to lead us to it again."

Riku nodded, "Sounds like a plan. I doubt we're going to find anything more here, so let's head out."

Sora got to his feet and headed for Roxas.

The blonde stopped and stared at him. "..." he closed his mouth.

"What's wrong?"

Roxas stared at him, "Sora – we got hit by that blast _too_."

"What?" Sora asked, still not comprehending.

Turning to look, Riku blinked, then his brows came down. "Damn. Well... not sure if that's inconvenient or not, but the point is kind of moot."

"Huh?"

"Sora, you just lost your external memory," Riku pointed at Roxas, "He's not your Nobody anymore. He's a Somebody of his own."

"What?"

"Oh never mind!" Roxas groaned and grabbed Sora's arm, dragging him towards the door out. There was not an exit point to their ship in this room – and probably for a good reason.

* * *

They arrived at Disney Castle without any incidents and upon transporting to the library, Sora peered around. "Wow! Mickey's not here!"

"He's got other things to do than just hang out in his library all the time," Riku pointed out.

"Oh!"

As one, the group of five turned to find Mickey standing in the doorway. Tail curling curiously, he smiled, "Hello friends!" he greeted cheerfully. "Is there something I can help you with?"

Riku nodded, "Yeah. We found a book in the Castle that Never Was that states that you managed to get to the world Gary and Kaiyou were hidden on. How did you manage to do that?"

Mickey's expression fell immediately. Heading towards his desk, he took a seat at it and sighed, "I wish I could tell you, guys. But honestly, I don't know." Sora's shoulders slumped in defeat. "You see, I was trying to find out what all I could do with Twilight powers when I opened a portal. Stepping through, I found myself in another world. After exploring some, I discovered a strange book in a dumpster – the Heartless were trying to steal it. So, figuring the book was important, I defeated the Heartless and took it. That book was Aros's diary."

Riku nodded at that, "But what were you doing when you opened the portal? What exactly?"

"I really don't know. I haven't been able to do it again since then." Mickey shook his head regretfully. "Maybe you should ask Yen Sid if he knows anything?"

"Well, if you can't remember how you did it, I guess it's as good a plan as any," Riku sighed, "If you remember anything, please tell us?"

Immediately, Mickey nodded. "Right-oh!"

Nodding and reluctantly leaving the king to get to work, the group headed out of the library and deeper into the castle, heading for the tallest tower... Riku silently brooded as he headed up the steps, following Sora, who had jogged ahead. Roxas was behind with Reno and Rude.

Upon reaching the top, Sora pushed the door open and stepped in, looking around the large round room. "Yen Sid?" he called.

Riku came to the top of the stairs and stepped into the room to find that the room was empty except for the desk and Yen Sid's books and equipment.

In a burst of smoke, the old wizard appeared, seated in his chair and looking generally irritated, which wasn't anything abnormal, as far as Riku could tell.

"Yen Sid!" Sora enthused, "We really need your help! You see-"

Lifting a hand, the wizard stopped Sora before he could blurt out the whole situation again. "I know...the situation," the man intoned. Looking the pair over, Yen Sid finally said, "The power of Twilight is the key to opening the way."

"But where is the way? Do we need to get near the world first?" Sora asked.

Yen Sid raised his finger and pointed at Riku, "You have what you need already." Before anyone could ask anything further, he disappeared in another cloud of smoke.

Riku glared at the empty chair, then sighed, turning towards the door. That had been a rather short interview and now they had to go all the way back down the stairs... Yen Sid had somehow shielded his room in Disney Castle from having any teleportation sites set in there. However, he kept his mouth shut until they were nearly halfway down the stairs.

"I wonder what he meant," Sora mused, breaking the silence first. "I get that you've got the Twilight power to open the way, but I think he meant something more than that."

Looking over his shoulder at Sora, Riku pondered that, hand lifting to touch the pendant at his throat.

* * *

Returning to Destiny Islands empty handed was a depressing notion, but Riku consoled himself with the fact that they had found Xemnas's journal. The book had quite a lot written in it – lots of information about the history of the Amplifier. In all, it had shown up seven times. Kaiyou was the seventh.

It bore some thought, but Xemnas hadn't been able to figure out what the reason for the appearances of something as unnatural as the Amplifier was, nor how it had come about.

'_It probably doesn't matter anyway.'_

Reno and Rude had come along, Reno following Roxas, Rude following Reno. The three of them made an interesting group – and Riku wondered what would happen to them after this whole mess was settled. Roxas was, beyond a doubt, incapable of combining with Sora now. He would have to go to school like everyone else and that would leave Reno and Rude at loose ends.

Again, the ride was completely uneventful. It was unnerving how silent the rides to and from the worlds were. Riku didn't like it. It almost seemed like a calm before the storm... Except the only Prince of Darkness worth mentioning was Gary, and he probably thought Sora and his bunch were dead.

'_Why DID he spare us?'_ Riku had to wonder, and not for the first time. Still, he couldn't quite figure out why, or what had happened. In the end though, brooding on it wasn't going to give him answers, and he had to turn his thoughts to other things.

Upon reaching their world again, the group teleported down into the courtyard of the capitol building – to be met by a bunch of agents pointing guns at them. Sora blinked stupidly for a moment before waving cheerfully at the men. After a moment, the agents lowered their weapons and there was some muttering into comm. units. Only a few moments later, Vincent arrived, hair combed, and wearing a suit. He had the sleeve on his left arm folded up, exposing the brass claw. Riku looked away from it, feeling sick.

Coming to a stop, Vincent eyed Riku, then the rest of the party, finally pinning Sora with a look, "Brought more Turks, hm?"

Looking towards Reno and Rude, Vincent's red eyes bored into them for a moment before he addressed them. "Reno and Rude – what do you intend to do here?"

Another voice interrupted, just as Reno was gearing up to say something sarcastic. "Hey, Vincent!" Zack called cheerfully, "Don't be too hard on them. Baldy there and his boss were the ones who hired me to go save Sora," he pointed out. "I think if they really wanted to make trouble, they wouldn't walk right into the middle of things and draw attention to themselves."

Rude nodded silently while Reno sighed, dropping his hands to his sides, "Yeah, that's about it. We're kind of at loose ends, you know? Rufus is dead, Tseng's dead. What do hired guns do when they don't have anyone paying them?"

"So you've come to offer your services?" Vincent asked. He had yet to move from where he had stopped, his arms at his sides. Riku could still tell that in a moment's notice, Vincent could fire two shots and be done with Rude and Reno.

Looking towards Roxas, Reno sighed, then returned his gaze to Vincent. "Yeah, I guess."

"Then consider me your new boss," Vincent stated after a moment and turned towards Sora, "Your father is in his office. He would like a report as soon as possible."

Sora nodded. "Right," turning, he jogged off.

Riku paused to speak to Roxas. "Help Reno and Rude get settled in, I'll go keep Sora on topic." The blonde nodded and Riku headed after his childhood friend.

Silently, Vincent stared after and finally turned towards Roxas, Rude, and Reno, gesturing for them to follow.

* * *

As Vincent had said, Sora found Laguna in his office and after the guards at the door recognized him, he was allowed in.

The excited look Laguna gave him nearly broke Sora's heart, and after a second of hesitation, he stepped in – propelled by Riku. The silver-haired teen closed the door behind them.

"She's been taken by Gary to another world – we think... But it's not a normal world. It's one that is somehow eclipsed by another."

Laguna fell back in his chair with a gusty sigh of defeat. "You haven't tried looking on all the worlds?"

"That would take a really long time," Sora admitted, "And probably end up just a big game of tag. Hunting for someone who doesn't want to be found is a lot harder than hunting for someone who doesn't know they're being looked for. And looking for Kaiyou in the first place was really hard."

To that, Laguna had to nod. He lifted a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Is it hopeless then?"

"No," Riku replied immediately. "We spoke to Mickey and Yen Sid. Mickey said he'd been to the world Kaiyou is on now. That's where he found her diary. Yen Sid said that I had the ability to open a portal to that world. Twilight is the key – she got there and back due to eclipses. I just need to figure out how to create an eclipse or harness the power of one to open the way."

Laguna sat forward and nodded at that. "What about Twilight Town?" he offered.

"The thought had occurred to me," Riku admitted.

Sora blinked, "and you didn't tell me?" he whined, then huffed, "Yeah, we'll go there and see if we can get a portal opened or something."

Riku nodded in agreement to that.

"Right now, though, Sora, if you wouldn't mind having dinner with your mother and I?" Laguna requested and Sora immediately nodded.

"I'll get Roxas too?" Sora asked.

"Speaking of which," Riku stated, "You've officially got another son," he sighed, "Xemnas had some kind of gun that sucked Hearts out. I guess they'd used it a few times before we caught up with him."

"What do you mean?" Laguna asked, "Is this weapon somewhere safe?"

"I hit it," Sora admitted, "And it exploded. Roxas and I were separated at the time and ...we can't combine anymore, so I guess he got his wish. He's got his own feet to wander around with now. Permanent." He smiled brightly at that. At least someone got to have what they wanted.

A knock on the door interrupted them and Laguna pressed the button to let the men outside know it was okay to open the door. Roxas stepped in with Rude, Reno, and Vincent behind him. "President," Vincent stated, "Rude and Reno will be joining your team of bodyguards." The man's red eyes drifted towards Riku, but didn't linger as he accidentally met his son's gaze.

"Alright," Laguna agreed. "Make sure they're briefed and give them quarters."

"Yes sir," Vincent replied and turned, bringing Reno and Rude after him. Roxas stayed.

"We're heading for Twilight Town next," Sora told his new brother.

At this, Roxas nodded, a blank expression hiding whatever thought crossed his mind at that news. "Maybe, since we're trying to get something done... something will happen?" he offered. "That's how it always seems to happen... Whenever we're trying to go somewhere or get something, something always happens to delay us."

Riku snorted in amusement at that, "It does," he agreed.

"For now, you two have a date with your mother and I," Laguna stated, pointing at Roxas and Sora. "Riku... maybe you should –"

"You should mind your own business," Riku interrupted blandly, "I'll talk to him when I'm ready to. Not before. Have a good dinner," he said to Sora and Roxas, then stepped out of the presidential office.

* * *

Stepping into the living room of his house, Sora found Kairi sitting with Olette at the coffee table, making a scrap book. Looking up, Olette waved to him, "Hey, Sora, we found Aros's camera in the courtyard while you were gone. We've decided to make a scrapbook with the pictures."

He came to sit beside Kairi and made a face as she turned to hug him.

"Aros had a lot of neat pictures," Olette continued, "There's pictures from this other world that looks like it's all washed out..." She picked up one of the pictures and handed it to Sora.

The picture was of some pretty girl, probably about thirteen or so in a pale green dress. Her red curls were wild around her shoulders, probably from swinging, since that was what she was sitting on. Sora felt as if he should have known this girl, since he doubted that Kaiyou took pictures of people very often. Reaching into his sidepack, Sora brought out Kaiyou's diary and flipped through it.

At last, he found that there was indeed a smaller copy of this picture in the book. "This is Lindsey," Sora said, handing the picture back to Olette.

"She's pretty! Is she Aros's friend?" Kairi asked.

Eyes skimming the book, Sora shook his head, "She's dead."

Olette's eyes widened, then watered as she taped the picture into the scrapbook page and wrote the girl's name under it.

"Any idea about this kitten?" Kairi asked, showing him a picture.

"That was her kitten," Sora identified, "Beelzebub."

Kairi nodded slightly and stuck that to another page and wrote under it. "I didn't print the other copy of it," she said. "We're trying to put what looked like good memories into this... So when you bring her home, we can give this to her."

Managing a smile, Sora nodded, "She'd like that."

"So what about this one?" Olette asked, showing Sora a picture of a bunch of cartoon people next to a few real people. "I think I recognize Aros..."

Nodding, Sora proceeded to identify the people in Kaiyou's pictures to the best of his ability.

'_I'm sure she'll like this. We will get her back. I won't let Gary win.'_

* * *

AN: yeah, lots of scene changes in this one... What's up with FF.n's layout change... can't barely FIND anything now. meh! Change for the sake of change isn't always a good thing.... Generally, it pisses people off.

Next Chapter: Searching for the right Kind of Twilight is hard work! Maybe Ellone will make some cookies? Maybe I'm just spouting nonsense. In any case, it's the end of a melting dream, like those Dali paintings - that's some freaky stuff there...


	87. End of a Melting Dream

_Chapter 87_

_(End of a Melting Dream)_

"It almost feels like we've lost," Sora said, staring up at the sky.

His dinner with his parents had gone without a hitch, Roxas had been forced to join, as well, and Laguna and Ellone had made sure to make him feel welcome.

Now, Sora, Riku and Kairi were in their usual place on the paopu tree on their little island, watching the sun set.

Riku looked down, his arms were folded, as usual. Kairi kicked her feet against the trunk of the tree. "I know what you mean," she admitted. "So many things were lost this time... and it's not like last time, were it all just came back."

"Twilight Town... Yuffie..." Riku named.

"There's still a way to get Twilight Town back," Sora said, "Roxas told me that computer was running still..."

Lifting his head, Riku turned to look up at Sora, "Do we have the right to bring back the dead?"

This stopped Sora cold and he closed his mouth slowly, looking down at his feet. "Hayner, Pence, and Olette are getting along fairly well here. It might not be the same as their home, but... things change."

Kairi swallowed, clasping her hands together, "How... silly we were back then."

Lifting his eyes, Sora gazed at her, "Silly?"

"Remember that promise?"

After a moment, he nodded.

"You promised to never change and you broke it," Kairi sighed and continued before Sora could apologize, "So did I. But there wasn't ever a way we could have kept it."

"Not without stopping time," Riku agreed. "But where's the fun in that?" Tipping his head back, he stared up at the stars as they began to come out.

Sora still wasn't reassured, "I didn't try to change..."

"Silly," Kairi laughed softly.

"Stupid, more like," Riku stated, amused as he looked towards Sora, "Just by going to other worlds, meeting new people, making new friends, you changed. Experiences leave marks. Not scars – not always anyway..."

"Like drawings in the Secret Place," Sora said, finally understanding.

Kairi nodded.

"So things won't ever be like they were..." Sora looked down, lip pouting out a little as he thought on that.

"No, but they could be better."

Both Kairi and Sora turned to look at Riku. Kairi's hands covered her mouth as she giggled, "I never thought I'd hear _you_ say something like that!"

Cringing, Riku put on his best aloof expression and tipped his chin up. "I think you're hearing things, I didn't say anything at all."

Sora grinned, "Alright, if you want to play like that," he looked out across the ocean. "Things could be better – but they won't be unless we work hard to make it."

"And if everyone works hard – and we all work together," Kairi added, "Then nothing can stand in our way!"

Riku took a breath and let it out slowly, "So what's something simple we can put to rights?"

Silence met this question, and Riku finally gave up waiting for them to think of something. "We should probably take Vivi home," he prompted.

"Oh yeah!" Sora said, realization dawning on him, "He's been lost for a long time now."

"He told me that Kaiyou promised to take him home," Kairi said.

Sora nodded, "Then we'll do that. It'll be one thing that can be done."

"Afterwards, we can go to Twilight Town and see if maybe that's where we need to be to open a portal," Riku put in. Kairi and Sora nodded immediately.

"Can I come too?" Kairi asked.

"We're going to be facing Gary again," Riku pointed out.

Her expression fell and she bowed her head. Sora, quick to reassure her, put a hand over hers, "Don't worry, Kairi. We'll get him good and we'll bring Kaiyou back and everything will be alright."

Riku's hand snuck up to the pendant at his throat, his thumb rubbing across the hard edges of the diamond. He could feel the darkness growing stronger within it. _'There isn't much time...'_

"I'll tell him tonight," Sora said, "That I'll be taking him home." Kairi nodded at that. Sora then looked at Riku, "We'll head out in the morning. Think you can be ready by then?"

Looking up at his brunet friend, Riku snorted with a slight sardonic smile.

* * *

The trip out to Alexandria hadn't been long – mostly due to the fact that the Nobodies and Heartless had completely ceased their operations. Riku had no comment on that, but Sora could tell that something was on his mind. Afraid to ask, Sora kept his mouth shut and simply focused on piloting. He almost wished that there were Heartless or Nobodies to blow up. It might have taken some of the tension out of the small cabin.

Vivi sat silently in the Ship Operations chair, like a large doll. Whether he was aware of the tension or not, Sora didn't know. Thankfully, they reached Alexandria without any problems and parking the ship in orbit, Sora stood and looked towards Riku. Roxas had decided he wanted to stand and was doing so near Sora's chair.

"I'll stay here," the silver-haired teen stated without looking. Roxas nodded in agreement to that and didn't move.

Vivi hopped out of his chair and turned towards Sora awkwardly, apparently unsure of what was needed of him.

Heading over to the teleport pad, Sora gestured towards the tiny mage with a smile. "We don't have to land with this ship," he pointed out.

Nodding, Vivi lifted his hands and grasped his hat, settling it on his head before pattering over to the teleport.

"Close your eyes," Sora reminded and closed his as the light flared briefly. Opening them, he found himself standing in a short alley. Ahead and above, he could see the towers of Dagger's castle, with the large crystal sword sticking up from the center. The pennants were fluttering in a fairly strong breeze from the rest of the towers. Lowering his gaze towards Vivi, Sora crouched down.

"Sorry Aros couldn't keep her promise to you – it's not that she didn't want to..."

"It's alright... I knew she was going to," Vivi looked down. "When you find her... tell her thank you – and that I'd like to see her again sometime?"

Sora nodded, "Yeah. I can do that." He pondered asking Vivi to carry a message to Dagger, but decided against it at the last moment, closing his mouth.

Falling silent, Vivi looked down at the ground for a moment, then turned, pattering off down the street. He tripped briefly on some crack in the cobblestones, then got to his feet to continue on his way.

Sora sighed softly and stretched his arms above his head. _'Well, that's done...'_ he turned, heading back to the transport point and closed his eyes.

Riku and Roxas were still waiting on the ship.

"That didn't take long," the silver-haired teen stated.

"No..." Sora agreed and sat down in the pilot's seat.

Turning the ship, they headed towards Twilight Town.

"The pendant is getting darker," Riku said.

Looking over, Sora sighed softly. "At this rate... we'll lose her entirely."

Riku stared ahead silently. He didn't want to agree, but on a level...

The rest of the trip to Twilight Town was spent in silence.

* * *

Unlike their last visit to Twilight Town, this time, the world was not surrounded by an armada of Heartless. Additionally, all the vines that had torn through buildings and choked the life out of the planet had turned to dust. This left dunes of black dust between piles of rubble, wind occasionally stirred some of the dust into the air, choking the three that teleported into one corner of what was left of the station platform.

Kaiyou's crashed ship was still there and partially healed, but it still had a gaping hole in the side.

Riku looked at the ship and around the slightly battle-damaged station platform, then turned to look at Sora and Roxas.

"So now what?" Sora asked.

"I really don't know... I guess you guys can just... play scrabble till I figure this out."

Roxas snorted in amusement. "Good thing I brought some cards."

Silence fell as Roxas brought his cards out of his pocket, cleared an area of black dust and began teaching Sora how to play something other than go-fish.

Riku, meanwhile, sighed and turned his attention inward. Finding his powers of Twilight, Riku grasped them and pulled, trying to make a portal, like he'd used to when he was engulfed by the darkness. Nothing happened.

He tried again, throwing his hand out to open the portal once more.

Still nothing...

* * *

Yet again, she had been ruthlessly awakened and forced to take her medications before getting sent to school. As Gary had shown her which pill was her mood-suppresser, she had taken care to not actually swallow it, and when Gail's back was turned, Kaiyou had spat it out into the bushes beside the front door.

Gary had seen her, though, and Kaiyou cast him a dark look. He gave her an expression that seemed to indicate that he wouldn't say anything. The ride to school was a quiet one, and Kaiyou sat in misery in the back, staring out the window.

'_I want to go home,'_ she bemoaned, _'To Sora and Riku and Kairi... and Mom and Dad.'_ This homesickness was a selfish one, she knew. It wasn't because she was worried about them – it was because she sincerely hated the world she was currently stuck on. _'At least Gary's darkness has given me a taste of what it's like to have my own emotions...'_ she had to admit, if bitterly.

Once at the school, Kaiyou carefully climbed out and watched as the others started in. Gail was staring at her.

Throttling down the urge to punch the woman in the face or try to strangle her again, Kaiyou stepped away from the van and headed into the building. The talk in the hall went a little quiet as Kaiyou entered. Ignoring them, Kaiyou didn't bother getting her books from her locker and simply headed towards her first class.

Kaiyou's breath caught as Alisa walked past in the hall.

There – sparkling in her blonde hair – were a pair of rose hairclips. _'Those – Those are the hairclips that the fairies gave me!'_ In two steps, Kaiyou crossed the hall and loomed over Alisa, "Where did you get those?" she growled.

"What?"

"The hairclips."

"Gail gave them to me!" She put her hands over them instinctively.

"So, you like stealing other people's things?" Kaiyou asked, following as Alisa backed away and finally ended up against the wall. Other people were watching now, but Kaiyou gave them no heed.

"Give them back now."

"You're such a bully! I used to like you!" Alisa cried.

Straightening, Kaiyou took a breath and swallowed, reigning in her temper. "I'm sorry. I'm not really myself right now," she admitted, "But I really need those back. Please give them back."

"You _Never_ wear girly things!" Alisa cried, shaking her head as tears threatened.

"No, but that doesn't mean they weren't a gift from a very dear friend of mine. Someone I may never see again."

Trying her hardest, Kaiyou concentrated on the speck of light she could feel emanating from Alisa – tried to drive back the darkness, just briefly. "I don't want to hurt you, Alisa, but those are mine. Please. Gail had no right to give them to you."

Swallowing, tears streaming down her cheeks, she slowly unclipped them and placed them into Kaiyou's outstretched hand. "Where are the other two sets?" Kaiyou asked, "The Daisies and the blue ones. There's a green and ivory comb too. Do you know where those are?"

"Gail gave Erin the daisies," Alisa sniffled, staring up at Kaiyou, still afraid, "I don't know about the others."

"Thank you," Kaiyou folded her fingers around the clips and for a moment, managed a trembling smile, "Thank you. You just gave me proof I'm not crazy." Turning away, Kaiyou paused, "There's something else. A little box, with an egg in it. Have you seen that?"

"No..." Alisa shook her head, her fear slightly diminished by Kaiyou's smile, but there were tears in her eyes still. "Wait... I ... I think... I think it's in Gail's room."

At that, Kaiyou turned and wrapped her arms around Alisa, "Thank you!"

Before anyone could blink, Kaiyou was off, dashing down the hall and out the doors. _'To hell with school! I'm NOT crazy! I'M NOT CRAZY!'_

"I'M NOT CRAZY!" she shouted with glee as she ran down the road at full tilt, tightly clutching the hairclips in her hand. Her abdomen was aching immediately, but she didn't care.

Taking the straightest route possible to the house, she finally reached it, completely out of breath. She jogged up the steps to the front door and paused long enough to find the spare key hidden under the potted plant on the doorstep. Unlocking the door, she stepped in and left it open, taking the stairs two at a time. Hope gave her energy as she reached the room at the end of the hall and pushed it open.

As expected, Gail and John were not home, and Kaiyou stepped in, looking around the room. From a casual search, none of her personal belongings were visible. Heading towards Gail's jewelry box, Kaiyou opened it, hoping to find the sapphire hairclips. Not there, but upon opening the jewelry drawer beneath, she discovered not just the clips, but the comb as well. Clutching them both, she sighed softly, then reached up and stuck the comb into her hair, as a place to put it for the time being. The clips, she pocketed.

Closing the drawer, she continued around the room, then paused as she caught her reflection in the vanity mirror. The comb was sparkling.

Taking the comb from her hair, she looked at it – finding a normal emerald and ivory comb. Pulling it through her hair, she watched green mist rise from it. "A healing charm," Kaiyou realized. "You mean... I've been walking around with a healing charm all this time?" Smacking her forehead with her hand, she sighed. "Wonder if the hairclips do anything special too?" Pulling them out of her pocket, she looked at them. "My clothes reflected magic... But... maybe these would let me _cast_? I'll have to test once I find the egg. Maybe I'll get lucky and find the camera too?"

Pocketing the clips again, she stuck the comb back into her hair to let it passively heal what remained of her wounds from her battle with Gary and the various other fights she'd been in lately.

Digging through every drawer in Gail's room did not turn up the egg or camera. Heading into the master bathroom off the bedroom, Kaiyou began searching there.

Still, no luck.

"Drat," she muttered and lifted her hands to comb her hair, using the mirror to put it into some semblance of a fashionable girl's style before heading into her room to begin searching through Erin's things. There, she found the Daisy hairclips. Still no egg or camera.

Heading to the room Gary got to himself, Erin began hunting through his things, careful to put them back where she found them.

At long last, under his bed, in a dirty sock, she found something.

The egg – minus the box – was rolled up in the sock, smudged, scuffed, and cracked. Tears came to her eyes as she recalled Laguna and Mister Magini's Magic show. _"Which came first? The bird? Or the Egg?"_

Trying to carefully brush the dirt off it only made the egg crack further – and as her tear unexpectedly hit it, the shell dissolved entirely, crumbling to dust in her hands. "No!" she gasped. "No..." blinking away her tears, she staggered to her feet, realizing that she needed to get out of Gary's room before she left a trace of her being there. She staggered over to her bed and sat down on the edge of it before realizing that the remains of the shell had blown out of her hands in the transit without a trace.

Yet, she was still holding something.

Looking down, her eyes widened.

"Ah-"

"_Take care of it. It's special."_ She recalled one of Magini's helpers telling her. Whichever of the triplets it had been.

Taking hold of the ring, Kaiyou held the keychain up, watching as the sparkling pearlescent white diamond-crystal swung from the end. The light it gave was nearly blinding, but, at the same time, soothing. She breathed in its beauty. "It's a Light source too," she whispered.

"I'll have to hide it from Gary. He can't know I have this. But HOW?" she palmed the crystal and got to her feet. "I need to get back to school too!"

Heading down the stairs, she dashed out the door and only barely remembered to lock it and put the key back before taking off again, heading back down the path she'd taken before, through yards and over fences.

She was back in school with only having missed one class – and only belatedly remembered to muss her hair up before going in. The run had done quite a lot of the work for her, but just to make sure, she scrubbed her hands in it good before stepping into her third class of the day late.

"Nice of you to join us, Kaiyou."

Scowling at the teacher's snide tone, she stated, "Sorry I couldn't schedule my vomit session at a more convenient time for you."

The teacher was slightly taken aback and looked at her, "You're sick?"

"I'll survive," Kaiyou muttered and took her seat and proceeded to ignore the teacher the rest of class.

Instead, she drew her plans.

'_I can walk in the dark and remain myself._

_Riku did it... Gary will need me capable of amplifying, so he'll have to remove his darkness from me soon; after he's convinced me to work for him. I certainly can't do anything other than be evil right now, and that's not very useful to him. Maybe I can make him force his hand? It would require me getting worse before he'll do it, but... But my will is strong. My mind is made up. I'm going to end this.... Once and for all._

One way...

...Or another.'

* * *

AN: Nearly didn't have this finished in time... Nanowrimo has started...

Next Chapter: Save the Last Dance for me!


	88. Last Dance

_Chapter 88_

_(Last Dance)_

For two days, Riku had been trying to figure out how to use his Twilight powers to open a portal. Each time, he had failed to open a portal to anything other than the computer-generated world of Twilight Town... The one where everyone Hayner, Pence and Olette knew were still alive. They had taken care to avoid those three after Roxas was immediately recognized by a candy-store owner and someone else had requested the blonde to retrieve a cat from the awning of their shop – at which Riku had laughed and Sora had been generally amused. Roxas had not appreciated the teasing, but they'd managed to get out of there before too much damage was done.

...If damage _could_ be done to the place.

It was when they'd finally run out of supplies on the ship that Riku admitted, "I can't redirect the portal. No matter what I try, that's just where it goes."

They were sitting in the kitchen area of their gummiship, eating the last of the macaroni and cheese for breakfast. Sora was staring glumly into his heated package and stirring the contents with his fork. It was only because Riku was so used to cleaning up after himself that they had clean cutlery at all. The trashcan was overflowing, though and it was more than time they went back for supplies.

"Then..." Roxas said slowly, "We might have to check every other world after all... Just to see if it's got a shadow like this one..."

Sora sighed sadly.

"Hey," Roxas prodded him, "Don't give up. You never gave up when Kairi and Riku were missing."

"But..." Sora looked up slowly, "I was kinda ...stupid then," he admitted, "I didn't realize anything bad had happened...." he looked to Riku, "I just thought you guys had landed somewhere like I did and you were fine and I'd find you and we'd all be together again. Just like before."

"Only, things once changed can't ever go back to what they were," Riku pointed out. "The sky's never the same color blue from day to day. Just like a scratched rock, even buried, is still broken. Water might look the same, but under the surface..."

Sora cocked his head to the side, blinking for a few second before finally nodding, "I ...think I understand what you're getting at." Riku smiled slightly and couldn't help but doubt that Sora had gotten the full meaning. A glance towards Roxas revealed that he'd understood and was thinking on it.

"In any case," Riku said, changing the subject before it brought up questions, "We need more food and why not just start looking with Destiny Islands?"

"Alright," Sora agreed.

"Okay," Roxas replied, but Riku was still looking at him and he was trying to hide the fact that he wanted to go home – not to Twilight Town, but to Ellone and Laguna.

Riku picked up his empty packet and headed for the garbage, sighed, and set it down on the counter next to the trash bin. "Then let's be off. It's starting to smell in here and I think the garbage needs taken out."

"You think?" Roxas repeated and snorted with mild amusement.

Sora gulped the rest of his meal before tossing it at the pile of trash and headed out of the kitchen area with cheese dribbled down his chin.

* * *

Kaiyou was feeling generally apathetic towards the world at the moment, which was better than the rage that had been simmering beneath the surface for the last few days. She suspected it was the medications – even though she threw them up as soon as she got to school, since Gail had started making her open her mouth after putting the pills in and "swallowing." Or maybe it was the fact that she was sitting by herself on the bleachers having been given a pass to sit out kickball, considering her injuries. Injuries she was faking, since she had used the comb to heal herself.

"Cough it up, punk!" someone was shouting by the fence at the back of the school's football field, where the druggies and thugs would hang out to avoid participating in PE.

She wouldn't have really cared about what was going on below and slightly behind her if the answering voice hadn't been quite so familiar. That whining denial caught her attention and she looked over her shoulder to find none other than Louis – the boy she'd used to think was a friend. The boy who had stuck several hundred dollars worth of jewelry in her pocket after he had stolen it from the mall and then claimed she'd taken it.

Her eyes narrowed.

"I don't have it, man, I don't!" Louis was objecting. He was a notorious pick pocket, shoplifter, and all around thief. He was probably telling the truth – he didn't have whatever the bully wanted. He'd already passed it off to one of his packhorses. Kaiyou had used to be one of them.

Jaw clenching slightly, she got to her feet and stalked down the bleachers, then around them, heading towards the pair. No one on the field noticed. Kaiyou recognized Buddy quite easily, and while he wasn't high on her list of idiots to pound the crap out of, he was climbing it slowly with his claiming her to be part of his gang of misfits.

Louis, desperate for escape, glanced past the bully's shoulder. "She's got it," he said desperately, pointing.

"Yeah. I got it, right here," Kaiyou smiled as Buddy turned to face her – and got a face full of fist. That was followed by a kick to the knee that dropped the taller and broader boy to the ground, gasping as Kaiyou slammed her knee into his face, followed by a stomp to the shoulder.

Shocked and in pain, Buddy struggled to his knees and staggered away. "You'll get it for this!" he told her in no uncertain terms, then made a break for it. He apparently hadn't liked the look on her face. He'd seen it several other times now – when Kaiyou had taken down several other people she didn't like in his presence. Kaiyou let him go, then turned to find where Louis had gone off to. She wasn't done yet.

Amazingly, Louis had not run, he was standing there gawking. "You... you just beat up Buddy James.... for me?" He actually sounded appreciative.

Lifting a brow, Kaiyou blinked at Louis, "You think I saved you?" she smiled slightly and decided to leave it at that.

Before he could get away, she was on the move, sprinting across the ground that separated them. He wasn't ready for the knee that slammed into his stomach, doubling him over, followed by the elbow to the back. Crashing to the ground Louis struggled to get up and get away from her, only to get his feet swept out from under him and his knee stomped. A sick crack resounded, and delighted, Kaiyou grinned – only to suddenly find her arms grabbed from behind by someone taller and stronger.

"You're gonna kill him!" Gary gasped as he tried to restrain her, finally having to shove her to the ground face-down and sit on her. Still she struggled, panting as she turned her head to look up at him.

"Maybe that was my intention?" Kaiyou growled. She was mildly surprised that he would intervene. _'Then again, this makes him look like the good guy in the situation.'_

"Tone it down a little, geez," Gary sighed and actually looked concerned, "You're really starting to scare everyone."

"Isn't that what you wanted?" she demanded, "To make me ruin my life? Well? Wasn't it?" Kaiyou shouted, but no one was listening. They were already getting an adult. Kaiyou would get into serious trouble for this.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Gary stared down at her, worry in his pretty blue eyes. She wanted to pluck them out.

'_He was always such a master at his expressions.'_

"Asshole," she hissed, putting as much venom into the word as she could. _'I'll kill him too.'_

* * *

In-house suspension for fighting; only because she'd broken Louis's CD player rather than his knee like she had intended. Kaiyou smiled as she sat at the desk she'd been told to sit in and pulled out her music player. Well, it wasn't hers. It had been someone else's. Now it was hers.

Of course, she'd chosen her target wisely. The boy she'd taken it from frequently tormented not just her, but a lot of other non-popular kids in school. He didn't mess with the outright bullies, since he wasn't that big of a fish, but he'd irritated Kaiyou enough to make her do something about it... and the darkness within her had enjoyed it for the selfish pleasure of finally getting some back from him. The boy was terrified of her now, wouldn't say a word to the girls he'd been harassing the day Kaiyou had caught him in the hall and kicked him so hard, he was still limping. The girls she'd saved were in adoration of her, but Kaiyou ignored them as she ignored all the others who were beginning to think of her as some kind of angel of vengeance.

'_Hardly that. I'm just racking up points with Gary...'_ she flicked through the selection of music on the music player, generally disgusted by the boy's tastes. Goth. Emo. More Goth. The one techno song she found rather sucked, then it was back to more sobbing "My life is the deepest black..."

'_They don't know blackness.'_ The urge to hunt them down and _show_ them exactly what "the deepest pits of Darkness" were really like rose in her, but she took a breath and let it out. Finally, she realized that the vice principal overseeing her suspension was staring at her as if he thought she'd been about to go for his throat.

Turning her gaze towards him, she smiled – and felt a chill of pleasure run through her at his abject terror.

It didn't take a smart one to realize just how deep she had sunken. Unlike Gary, Kaiyou didn't bother hiding it. She didn't bother sugarcoating the hatred and selfishness that Gary had poisoned her with.

Even if somewhere within her, something was crying, mourning the loss of the Light she had once been able to at least touch, if not possess herself.

Over the last few days, her fights had gotten her officially accepted into Buddy's little band of misfits. Kaiyou denied affiliation, of course, and had every intention of destroying them too. Her kicking his rear the day before was certainly going to be her ticket out of the club, though, and he'd likely have some kind of retribution in mind.

Kaiyou tilted her head back as she stared up at the acoustic tile of the ceiling, listening to the world's most awful music as she fondled one of the hairclips she'd stolen back from Gail, Alisa and Erin.

After school, she would slip away from Gail and Gary's supervision again and practice with the hairclips more. She had already found out that wearing all of them at once didn't do a thing. Wearing one of each kind didn't either. Wearing both of a kind did a medium powered spell, and wearing one from two sets did lower level spells but she could cast two different spells at least. So, if she wore both Roses, she could cast only midlevel fire. But Rose and Daisy casted low level fire and lightning. The Sapphires were ice.

It was her hope that with practice, she could make the midlevel spells more powerful. She'd already managed to destroy Gail's garden. All the stupid woman's precious ornamental flowers were dead, which had made Gail highly distraught, but she couldn't figure out who had alternately set them on fire and frozen them.

The thought of it made Kaiyou chuckle to herself.

Unfortunately, the one flaw she had noticed in her plans of escape... was that while she was tainted, she could still Amplify – but only the darkness. Gary wouldn't have to cleanse her in order to use her.

'_I was wrong,'_ Kaiyou had to admit finally, _'I've got that Keyblade, but I can't use it. I have to wait for Riku, or Sora, or someone to save me. I'm really starting to hate waiting.'_

* * *

It was nearly sunset and Kaiyou had gotten a moment to finally get outside and away from Gail and Gary and everyone else. She had moved to a side of the house that wasn't directly visible from the kitchen window but still made sure to keep a close watch on the back door. Of course, her precautions didn't stop the neighbors from seeing what she was doing, and she'd already scared the old lady that lived to their right.

That was sad, since Kaiyou had actually liked the lady. However, done was done, and Kaiyou needed the practice with the hairclips... She was currently working on killing the tree in the backyard, throwing ice spells at it.

"So, I see you've found out that it wasn't all just a dream."

Heart leaping to her throat, Kaiyou turned to stare at him – he must have teleported in since she hadn't seen the back door open.

Glaring at him, she replied, "I could have told you that from the start. There wasn't enough of an explanation for where I was all that time." She touched her abdomen, "And I've got this lovely gift from you. Kind of hard to forget it, you know."

Gary smiled at her. "Your heart's so black. It's beautiful."

"Piss off."

"Hm... No." He continued to smile. "I have a gift for you." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled something out. Letting it drop from his hand, the Keychain dangled tantalizingly close to her nose. He moved his hand away before she could reach for the black pendant that looked something like a raven. "Now, now, if you know me at all, you'll know I don't give gifts. You'll have to work for this."

"What do you want?" Kaiyou growled, dropping her hands to her sides.

He stepped away and put both hands back into his pockets. "Well, you've been causing mayhem at school. Too much. It's drawing attention to you – more than I'd like. If you could, would you mind controlling your newfound temper?"

"Not newfound," Kaiyou replied, "I've always had it," she smiled as well, or more, pulled her lips back from her teeth, just as Gary turned his head to look at her. "I just never acted on it before."

"I see," Gary mused, "Well then, if you could control it a bit, that would be nice. I don't think I'm quite ready yet to take this world and destroy it..."

"Why not start small? The school first, this town, New York?" Kaiyou mused, looking up at the sky, noticing, for the first time, how it had always been kind of gray here. Even when the sun was shining, it had always been shadowed. She squinted at the sky.

Gary burst out laughing, "I'm beginning to like this new you!"

Lowering her gaze she eyed him. "You were right about a few things," she stated, "I've got plenty of things to hate about this world. And other worlds. The universe in general."

Turning towards her fully, he strode over, hands coming out of his pockets to rest on her shoulders as he leaned in. "The way your eyes sparkle when you say that is so – gorgeous. You're a woman after my own heart, Kaiyou. I could kiss you."

And he did.

Kaiyou kept her eyes open, her body stiff in his embrace as her heart pounded with pure fury. _'I can't do anything now. He'll know my plan and the game will be up.'_

She was forced to wait for him to step back, and when he did, Gary grinned down at her, "Alright," he took her hand and placed the Keychain into it, closing her fingers around it. "This is Eternal Nocturne. The Keyblade I helped create with the other Princes of Darkness under Xemnas's direction." He snorted, "The fool had no idea what else it could be used for..."

Kaiyou opened her hand and looked down at the blade. "Contamination," she replied.

"And at your hands...?" Gary prodded.

"Mass contamination." Lifting her eyes to his again, she stated, "I don't think I'd mind letting everyone in the universe experience what I'm feeling..."

Stepping away and lifting his arms to the sky, Gary burst out laughing, "I'm so glad you agree with me!" Still grinning, he looked down at her again, "Just remember – low key. I'm not ready to move just yet. There are a few last... details to take care of."

"Fine," Kaiyou grouched, "Then get them taken care of. I hate this place."

"I'll be right on that, now that I can trust you," Gary replied.

'_YES! Now I'll have more freedom to undermine him!'_

They both turned as the back door opened, "Gary, Kaiyou, dinner is ready."

Kaiyou glowered at Gail, Gary smiled and headed into the house with only one backwards glance towards Kaiyou.

As the sun hit the halfway mark on the horizon, her stomach lurched, and Kaiyou swayed as a familiar feeling touched her Heart.

A second later, the feeling was gone and in its place was a wave of dizziness; but she knew that touch.

His Twilight was unmistakable – and in that moment, his fury had matched hers, and she'd managed to Amplify him.

Kaiyou breathed, managing to hold onto her balance as she focused on getting the world to quit swaying.

'_Riku... I Amplified him. I don't know what I helped him with, but he managed to touch me, and I know he felt me. He had to have...'_

She took a breath to calm herself. Getting her selfish little hopes up right now would be suicidal... and likely get Riku killed if Gary found out that he was still alive.

That little tiny voice – the one that continually cried in her Darkness – hoped dearly that it was Riku, and that he'd managed to find this world.

'_Just hold on a little longer,'_ she told herself. _'We'll get through this.'_

* * *

They arrived back at Destiny Islands without any mishaps, which was fine with Riku, but their return without any good news was another blow to Sora's parents that Riku didn't feel like dealing with personally.

Instead, he headed to the play island and sat in the sand, unknowingly much in the same place Kaiyou had first been discovered by Donald and Goofy. Staring at the ocean for a long time, he finally lifted his hands and carefully removed the torque from around his neck and looked at the pendant hanging from it.

Over time, it had gotten slightly looser, fitting more comfortably, but the pendant was still Kaiyou's... No matter if she'd collected all the pieces of her heart, this had been a vessel for the first piece of it, and still reflected her state.

It was completely black now.

Holding the tiny diamond shape in his hand, he stared at it hard and called, _'Kaiyou!'_

But as always, he felt as if he were simply thinking to himself. His hand clenched around the pendant, the points of it digging in, despite the gloves covering his hands.

"What'cha doin?"

Opening his eyes, Riku looked back to find Kairi. She carefully took a seat in the sand next to him. Her eyes went to what he was holding.

"Trying to call her?" she guessed, then looked out towards the sea.

Riku stared at her for a long moment before stating, "Kai... Your names are similar. But your natures aren't."

Startled, she looked towards him, "What do you mean?"

"Sora is Sky. I'm Earth, Kai means Water... But you're more like Light."

Kairi smiled at him, "How do you figure that?"

"Kaiyou's always changing, even though she seems calm on the surface. You're ever-present. Nothing seems to stop you from seeing the bright side of things; burning away people's shadows."

She looked away briefly, but he caught her amused expression as she lifted a hand to cover her mouth. After a moment, Kairi looked back at him. "So, you thinking of renaming me?"

"Hikari?" Riku suggested, since she'd practically dared him to.

"Too long!" she giggled. "Kari is nice though. I think I'd answer to that."

Pausing, Riku lowered his hands to his lap and cocked his head, "You went along with that rather fast."

"I..." she looked down, "I've been talking to Squall some. He said there were records in Tron's computer... Ansem the Wise's records about me. He said at first he wasn't sure it was about me because the name was different, but when he met me, he said he knew. Kari _is_ my real name."

"Huh," Riku grunted, half-amazed that he'd come up with that without any prompting.

Kairi smiled up at the sky for a moment, and silently, Riku watched her. Suddenly, she turned towards him, "I'm glad you and Kaiyou like each other." Leaning over, she placed her hand on his arm. "I like you – I love you – but as my friend, Riku. Always." She suddenly leaned in to kiss his cheek, then sat back in the sand. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she wrapped her arms around them, "Before everything happened, I liked you both equally, but – don't take this wrong, Riku... But when the darkness came... I know you did what you thought was right, but your heart.... has a darkness in it I can't touch. And I don't want to – not because it's a bad thing, but because it would change you. You wouldn't be the Riku I love." She looked towards him finally, to make sure she hadn't hurt him. She merely found his usual blank expression. "Oh – please stop playing like you're a wall!" she cried, tears coming to her eyes. "I've been trying so hard for so long to tell you this!"

Looking away, Riku took a breath, then looked back towards her and offered a slight smile, "You haven't hurt me, Kairi. I ...kind of knew we wouldn't work for a while now... You're too bright for me. You burn away the shadows and make all my sins known. I'll face them, but on my own terms."

She met his gaze, her tears finally sliding free and gliding down her cheeks. "You promise you'll call for help if you need it, right? You know me and Sora and even Roxas – and I'm sure Kaiyou – we're all here for you."

"I know," Riku nodded slightly and managed to give her another smile. "It's because of you that Sephiroth couldn't break me."

"...Sephiroth?"

Riku shook his head, "Just know that you guys are my friends and nothing will ever change that. You are my strength."

Turning, Kairi threw her arms around his shoulders and after a second, Riku returned her embrace. It wasn't the same as hugging Kaiyou, but hugging Kairi felt nice too.

"Hey! That's not fair!"

Turning slightly, Riku found Sora standing nearby, hands folded with that characteristically pouty-angry look – which didn't last for long. His lips quivered, then he burst out laughing, doubling over.

Kairi pulled away from Riku, blushing bright pink as Riku began to snort in amusement as well.

Sora stumbled over and dropped to a seat on Kairi's other side, grinning broadly. "So, why's he so special that he gets hugs and I don't?"

Riku mused, "Because I'm wittier." Sora stared at him and blinked. "Translated to mean: I'm not an airhead like you."

"Hey!" Sora protested, but didn't get far. Kairi had already thrown herself into his lap and was giggling at him.

Smiling, but unable to watch them for long, Riku turned his gaze back out towards the ocean.

If he had to be absolutely honest with himself... he had to admit that he loved both Kairi and Sora equally, and for a while, he'd been slightly confused as to what level he'd loved them on. He admired them both greatly, envied, and loved. Now, though...

His fingers still clutched the pendant that was hung from a silver torque made from his own hair. Determination overcame him as he stared straight ahead – the sun was setting, half of its swollen orb visible above the calm ocean, separating the sea from the sky with a red line. And here he stood – or sat as the case was – unable to touch all three of them.

Impotent fury at the situation sparked him to lift his hand, reaching out towards the sun to block its light – just for a second.

"Riku!"

Kairi was on her rear in the sand as Sora leapt to his feet, "You opened a portal! – I – I think I recognize that place!"

Focusing his eyes, Riku stared at it – but felt his control slipping. Getting to his feet, he didn't waste a second – simply jumped through. Sora wasn't a second after.

The portal wavered and closed behind them.

Kairi blinked several times, then put her elbows on her knees, chin in her hands and sighed to Namine. "Why do they always leave us behind?"

"Not sure..." her Nobody replied, "But I don't think Roxas will be happy about it."

* * *

Staggering to a halt on the other side, Riku reached out and grabbed the back of Sora's jacket – yanking him back from the path of an oncoming car.

The car went past, honking several times and Riku breathed. There were a lot of cars on the road – much like in Esthar.

"I'm not sure I can do that again," Riku admitted as the pair stood there, watching the traffic go by, "Not without a boost... I thought I felt Kaiyou for a second when the portal opened."

Sora turned and looked up at Riku, "So it's just us then." He smiled, "That's alright. We make a good team!"

"You said you recognized this place?" Riku prompted.

"Yeah, from Kaiyou's diary." Sora looked around – up and down the street and sighed, "But really... it's more like snapshots of this world rather than a map. We've still got to find her here, wherever she is."

"If she's here," Riku had to admit.

Sora's lips pressed together in that cutely-stubborn look he got when faced with Riku's pessimism.

"Let's get looking then," the silver-haired teen said to head off argument and scrubbed Sora's hair before picking a direction and starting off. As he walked, he clipped the torque around his throat again. After wearing it for so long, he felt kind of weird without it.

Catching up, Sora walked beside Riku for a time before finally saying, "You know... if Twilight Town's Twilight portal only led to the computer world, then ... the portal you just opened must only lead to this world."

Riku looked down at Sora and quirked a brow, "Making a statement of that certainty after only two trials is a little silly, you know. Didn't you learn anything about the scientific method in school? ...or were you too busy drooling on the textbook to notice?"

Sora flushed, "I have more proof than just Twilight Town and the portal you just opened," he retorted. "Kaiyou transported here in the first place when she was nearly killed – and then she transported back to Destiny Islands when the train crashed and she was nearly killed." He ticked these off on his fingers. "So that's two more trials to add to your scientific... whatchamacallit."

Pondering supplying Sora with the correct term, Riku decided against and instead let the subject drop.

"But the question is... How do we find out where she is?" Sora mused, propping his elbow on his other hand while he stroked his chin, blankly staring up at the gray sky.

On the other hand, Riku was paying attention to their surroundings. "I think it's more a matter of her finding us," again, Riku reached out and yanked Sora to a halt as several young men noticed them. Riku looked the group of five over and decided they were probably trouble.

Sora looked the group of five over, smiled brightly and waved.

"Sometimes, I wonder why I hang out with you," Riku muttered under his breath.

Thankfully, Sora didn't hear the comment, since he was too busy calling out to the five thugs, "Hi! Have you guys seen someone who looks a lot like me but is about this tall," he held his hand up to just under his eyebrows.

"Sora, I think they've seen her and don't like her," Riku replied blandly as the group of natives headed towards the pair of off-worlders, cracking their knuckles.

Looking up at Riku, Sora pouted a little, "I guess it'll be a fight then." He suddenly smiled, "Oh well! An enemy of my sister is an enemy of mine!" And with that, he drew his Keyblade and charged.

* * *

Riku was mildly irritated.

The thugs had indeed known Kaiyou – apparently she'd been picking on them and all their thug-friends for no other reason than revenge. And she was good at it. This, of course, had not made for a hospitable environment for Sora to walk face-first into. However, Sora was a good enough fighter to take care of himself, and with Riku's backup, the five were no problem at all.

Unfortunately, the cowards had gone running with their tails between their legs soon as things had begun to get interesting. Then some black and white cars had come roaring down the street and Riku suspected that getting caught by these people would delay the search for Kaiyou even longer.

So, he had hoisted Sora by the back of his pants and hauled him off at a fairly fast clip, Sora flailing and whining about the wedgie.

Minor price to pay, Riku suspected.

It was well past dark as they wandered down the street of a neighborhood. The place was so different from Destiny Islands that Sora was gaping around like a tourist. The buildings were tall, built six or seven stories high with windows evenly spaced and only one door every few hundred feet. Cars were parked on the sides of the road, but they weren't quite the same models as Sora had seen in Toon Town or Los Angeles. Street lamps were set evenly down the sidewalk, providing light for the pair to continue on their journey.

Riku, meanwhile, was trying his best to look like he belonged, but suspected that the few people left on the street were staring due to their odd clothes. They stood out – especially Riku. Lifting a hand, he touched the charm at his neck, testing for some connection with Kaiyou through it. At least, this part of town didn't look like a rough one. The cars were in good shape and there was an occasional lone jogger, or someone with a dog out walking still.

"This is worse than before," Sora said, "Before when I didn't remember her at all, it was like playing a game of Hot-Cold. Now... I can't feel her at all."

Coming to a stop, the brunet dropped down onto a bench that was set next to one of the buildings. "And now it's dark. We don't have a safe place to rest, so we'll have to keep going..."

Riku folded his arms and leaned against the wall next to the bench. He really couldn't deny Sora's observation. "I refuse to give up," he stated, though, and this brought Sora's head up to look at Riku.

"Me either! We've come this far! It's only a matter of time!"

"Patience," Riku corrected, "Like you said, we don't have any leads this time. How the hell did he cut her off from us?" His gaze turned towards a plump woman making her way down the street with her arms full of what appeared to be grocery bags. She was heading towards them.

Sora looked down again, hands on his knees as he sat forward in thought. "I don't know – wait!" he sat back then dug into his sidepack, bringing out a battered green book. "I've still got her diary. Maybe I can use my Keyblade on it?"

"Maybe, but I don't think doing it here is a good idea," Riku pointed out. "Those guys before were more than a little shocked – and I'd rather not get picked up by whatever passes for the authorities here."

Sniggering, Sora grinned, "But the look on their faces – we sure showed them!"

"Maybe we should have tailed them somehow?" Riku mused.

Sora nodded several times, "They'd have to know where Kaiyou is if she'd made them that angry... I hope they don't go hunt her down and try anything."

The woman that had been coming towards them came to a sudden stop, staring at them. Riku replied, "Well, I know she's capable of taking care of herself in tough situations."

"Yeah, but _Gary_ has her," Sora stood, turning towards Riku.

"In which case _he_ wouldn't let anything happen to her – nothing too bad, at least. He'll keep her alive as long as she's usable. We'd better move on," he pushed off the wall and gave the short, middle aged woman a cold look. She stared up at him with large brown eyes, her curly red hair pulled back from her face.

The look she gave him, then Sora, was one that made Riku pause, even as Sora started to walk onwards.

"Sora," Riku stated. "This woman knows you."

"Well," the woman said, stammering slightly, "I... I know Kaiyou." She stared at Sora, "And I know I've heard your voice."

Sora blinked, then leaned forward to look at the woman, "Oh yeah! You're Rick's mom!"

It was a good thing Riku was ready for Sora to say something stupid and managed to catch the woman's groceries before they hit the pavement.

"H-how-" the woman breathed.

Lifting Kaiyou's diary, Sora tapped it, "You know how she seemed to forget bad things? She put them here. I've been unlocking them lately – putting them back." Sora sighed slightly and shook his head before smiling at the woman, "Miss Lisha, thanks for caring for my sister. You were one of the few who did."

Lisha swallowed, blinking back tears as she realized Riku was holding her groceries now. "Where did you come from? How-" she shook her head, "Out here isn't the proper place to talk, come in please."

Riku managed to smile slightly, "Thanks."

Looking up at him, Lisha smiled in return, then her eyes traveled down to what hung at his neck. "Yeah, it is," Riku said without prompting. "We'll explain inside if you'll let us stay the night." He glanced at Sora, "He tends to make a mess, but I'll keep him out of trouble."

"Hey!" Sora objected, "quit teasing me like that..."

Merely smirking at his brunet friend, Riku hoisted the groceries into a better position to carry while Lisha led the way down a few buildings more and up the stairs to a door. They entered a small lobby and too an elevator up several stories before stepping out into a landing where Lisha produced another key and let them into her townhouse apartment.

"We moved here after Kaiyou was taken from us. Losing both my children there... it was a bit too much to take, so we moved," Lisha said, mostly addressing Sora, since he seemed to know what was going on.

Sora nodded, looking around curiously.

The first room they entered was a sitting area with a television against one wall and a man seated on the couch. He was tall, with dark curly hair and darkish skin, sort of like Rude's, only darker. The man looked back at them, then nearly tripped over the coffee table as he leapt to his feat.

"Holy Mother – Lisha is that Kaiyou?"

Sora grinned broadly, "No, I'm Sora, her twin brother!"

The man sat down on the coffee table abruptly. Thankfully it was wood and withstood his weight. He wasn't a hefty man, but he was broad. "Dan, they're looking for her. She seems to have gotten into trouble with that boy – the one she always said she really didn't like."

"Gary?" Dan replied, his dark eyes finally traveling towards Riku.

Riku nodded, but looked down at Lisha, "There things that need put away immediately?" he gestured slightly with the bag.

"Oh yes – the meat and milk," Lisha made to take the bags, but he sidestepped her and headed for the kitchen on his own to set the bags on the table and unpacked them.

"Who's he?" Dan asked.

"That's Riku," Sora supplied, "My best friend." Sora looked up at the ceiling briefly as he pondered what else he could say about Riku.

Dan beat him to it, though and asked, "That ah... pendant..."

"It's Kaiyou's," Sora agreed. "She gave it to him."

"Oh." Dan blinked, "She wouldn't even take that thing off for baths," he said slightly distantly, "She said it was all she had from her real family."

Sora nodded, "I gave it to her." He lifted his crown necklace, "She gave me this." He looked down at it briefly, then grinned a little, "Actually, our parents bought them, but we did pick them out for each other." His eyes wandered around the room again, taking note of Riku and Lisha putting the groceries away.

Lisha mentioned that Riku seemed to know what he was doing in the kitchen. Riku simply grunted and continued to help her make dinner. Sora stepped forward and dropped to a seat on the couch, facing Dan and started from the beginning – as best he could remember, "See, Kaiyou and I don't come from this world. There're as many worlds as there are stars in the sky... Except this world is a shadow of my world. That's how we got here – Riku opened a Twilight portal. He's not sure how he managed it, but he said Kaiyou helped, so we're hoping that she's here. See – she got transported back to my world and a bunch of stuff happened and a war broke out because it turns out that she can do something really special..."

"Sora!"

Stopping, Sora looked over at Riku. "What?"

"Remember to _breathe_ once in a while," Riku sighed.

It took Sora second to understand quite what Riku meant, then scratched the back of his head and laughed. "Oops."

Riku glanced at Lisha, "Yeah. Just don't give him sugar and he's tolerable."

Lisha broke into a laugh, tears in her eyes as she shook her head, "I wish I could see Kaiyou smile like that."

Hand immediately going to his sidepack, Sora pulled out Kaiyou's diary, in which he'd stuck several of the best photos she'd taken. "I happen to have proof that she can!" Sora announced, whipping out the photo and displaying it to Dan. Lisha came out immediately to look as well.

"That's Mom and Dad and Roxas," Sora pointed at the strangers in the picture. "Riku took this one since Dad insisted Kaiyou have a family portrait, but she wouldn't smile, so Dad started singing, and I'm really not sure where he got the song, but it did the trick."

Riku shook his head as he tended the cooking meat – whatever was being made for dinner. "Sora gets it legitimately, good thing Kaiyou took after her mother."

"What?" Sora stuck his bottom lip out.

"She's slightly more inclined towards tactics."

"I have tactics!" Sora objected.

Riku rolled his eyes, "Yeah, you have Plan A: Hit it till it stops moving!"

"And if it doesn't stop moving, I'll hit it some more," Sora stated, "I think it's a good solid plan."

Dan exchanged a look with Lisha, "Hit...things?"

"Oh, only Heartless, and Nobodies, and Riku," Sora replied.

"You're still two-hundred and thirty-one to zero with me," Riku put in.

"Nu-uh! I beat you that one time!"

"Didn't count. Kairi was distracting me."

"You never _did_ tell me what she was doing," Sora accused and scowled at Riku.

Riku took care to not look up.

Covering her mouth with a hand, Lisha sniggered behind it briefly before going to help Riku in the kitchen again. "Sora, can we have a copy of that picture?" she asked.

Nodding, Sora agreed, "Sure, I don't think Kaiyou would mind."

"I'll do that now then," Dan said and took the picture as Sora handed it over.

Getting to his feet, Sora headed into the kitchen to sit at the table and watched curiously. A few minutes later, Dan returned and handed the picture back and sat. "Now... could you tell us again, a little more slowly what all is going on?"

Grinning, Sora nodded, "Right!"

* * *

They had talked fairly far into the night with Sora doing most of it and Riku stopping him in order to explain a thing or two. The only demonstration they could do any of what they said they could was by bringing out their Keyblades. Riku had made sure to do it in a space wide enough to not damage anything.

Thankfully, that had been enough to convince Lisha and Dan that everything they'd said was true. Lisha had then promised that first thing in the morning, she would find out where Kaiyou was supposed to be. She thought she was allowed to know that information anyway.

Come morning, though, she had tried calling only to get a run-around and finally gave up; though she admitted that she hadn't ever given up trying to get actual legal custody of Kaiyou.

"Best I can do now is call in sick to work and drive you boys around town. Maybe if you get close to her, you'll be able to feel her?" Lisha said to Sora.

Placing a hand on his heart, Sora thought on that, then nodded, "It's worth a try." Riku agreed with a simple nod and they drove Dan to his work and Lisha then started heading out to all the schools that were in the area Sora and Riku had first appeared in, since five people recognizing Sora was a good indication that they were in generally the right area.

They stopped for lunch at a drive-through and Lisha stated that she was going to take them to a park to eat rather than eating in the car, so she continued driving. Sora, in the middle of drinking his soda suddenly coughed and sputtered, "Stop!"

It wasn't until a few seconds later that Lisha managed to find somewhere to park the car and Sora jumped out immediately without any explanation.

Riku was quick to follow. He certainly hadn't felt anything, but trusted Sora. Half a block later, they came to a chain link fence that blocked off a football field from the street – there were kids playing some sort of ball-kicking game in the scuffed grass, but it was someone seated on the bleachers, watching the game, that immediately caught Riku's attention.

"AROS!" Sora shouted, and when the figure started slightly and looked up, Riku knew.

Boldly climbing the chain link fence, Sora dropped to the ground on the other side and sprinted across the field; right through the game of kickball. Riku sent the ball flying in another direction as he charged through, since it had gotten in his way.

Kaiyou, for her part, stood, then slowly stepped down the bleachers towards him, but stopped on the last bleacher, remaining above him. "What're _you_ doing here?" she asked, desperately keeping her façade in place. Even in her Darkness, she was happy to see him – for the selfish reason that he made her feel worthwhile – and because she could use him to rid herself of Gary, once and for all. Right now, though, she had to push him away.

Sora staggered to a stop. He had everyone's attention now, "Wh-what do you mean? I came looking for you, of course!"

"What? To _save_ me?" she demanded. "You idiot! It's too late."

Lifting her hand, she reached for Eternal Nocturne, they Key to the Darkness. Grasping it, she sliced downwards as it came to her hand.

"You're such a bother, Sora. I don't need you."

Riku came to a stop beside Sora. "So. You've made your choice?"

"Yes. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of things on my own." Kaiyou kept her back straight, even as everyone from class stared at her, whispering questions as to who the new pair were.

Staring up at her, Riku nodded, lifting a hand to touch the pendant at his neck. "Then we shouldn't stand in your way," he said, "If you've really made up your mind about it."

"You doubt me?" Furiously, she leapt off the bleacher, swinging her Keyblade at Sora's head.

Riku shoved Sora aside swiftly and blocked her strike, pushing her back.

"I think I do doubt you," Riku said to her as they stood, blades locked.

"I don't _need you!_" Kaiyou shouted and shoved away, coming in for another strike, this time low as Riku leapt away.

Sora stood, dumbfounded, completely unable to attack, mouth open as tears trembled at the edges of his eyes. "Kaiyou..." he whispered. "No... You can't be...serious."

Shaking his head, he wiped his eyes and took a breath, "No! I won't believe it!"

Breaking away from Riku as he suddenly made an attack, Kaiyou leapt up and threw a kick towards his face. He blocked with his left arm and grasped her ankle. She knew she was in trouble the second his hand had gotten hold, and a second after that, she was flying through the air, towards the crowd of onlookers. Body twisting in midair, she managed to get her feet under her in time to hit the ground and skid in a crouch, blade high. Breaking into a run from that position, she sprang into the air, avoiding a blast of twilight energy that struck the ground where she had been seconds ago. She was not expecting the second shot that sent her flying back the way she'd come. She landed hard this time and took a second to roll to her feet again. Reaching into her pocket, she grinned as she straightened.

Lifting her hand, she clipped her hair back from her face on the right side with both Rose hairclips.

Then, with the same hand, she drew a fiery trail in the air before lifting her hand into the air, a ball of black-edged flame appearing in it.

The students around her screamed and ran back further, but still did not leave entirely – this was far too cool to not watch. Sora could see Lisha standing at the fence, staring in partial disbelief as well.

Drawing back, Kaiyou fired her spell at Riku, but the distance was far enough that he simply leapt aside and sent a volley of small Twilight shots that weaved through the air towards her.

Kaiyou was in motion again, moving to flank Riku – putting Sora in between herself and the one willing to fight her.

The area darkened slightly as a black portal opened at the top bleacher and Gary stepped out, in his Prince of Darkness outfit, arms folded as he smiled.

Turning – his attention caught by the movement, Sora's eyes narrowed. "You! You did this!" Finally drawing his Keyblade, he went into motion. Kaiyou's strike – aimed for the back of his head – missed by inches. She continued her advance before he realized Sora was no longer between them. Swinging her left hand, she hurled a fireball at him and was there in his face a second later, following up with a physical strike.

"Kaiyou," Gary called, and she felt a twinge in her heart. "Come deal with this pest."

Drawing Obsidian Heart, Gary knocked Sora's strike aside and slammed a foot into the shorter boy's chest, knocking him down the bleachers.

Kaiyou, forced to break off from Riku, leapt back and landed beside Sora where he lay on the ground, staring up at her stupidly. Gazing down at him, she mouthed one word as she raised her blade dramatically. She hoped the pleading look she gave him would be enough to get him to play along with her plan.

"_Fight!"_

Unable to help it, Sora blocked her strike and kicked to roll backwards and to his feet, now holding Ultima at the ready. Launching at him, Kaiyou brought her blade around to strike, but he moved to pin her blade, then knocked it aside. He was still unwilling to strike at her as he retreated.

Riku came in behind, and with a solid strike, hit her in the back of the head.

Eyes rolling, she staggered and sagged into unconsciousness. Immediately, Sora caught her and gently let her to the ground.

"Sora. We need to kill Gary to free her," Riku stated and nodding, the brunet stood and stepped past Kaiyou to face Gary.

"Your pawn is down for the count, now what?" Riku asked with a slight grin.

"She never was a strong fighter," Gary sighed, "I guess I'll have to kill you myself." Flicking his hair over his shoulder, he stepped down the bleachers gracefully as darkness spread from him, engulfing the area until there was nothing left but them.

As one, the pair leapt towards Gary, and lifting his blade, he sent a wave of black energy towards them in return.

Struck simultaneously, the pair went flying. Upon landing, and without consulting the other, they split to flank Gary.

Sora reached Gary first and slashed downwards with a powerful strike that the Prince nearly didn't block. Turning the force of it to the side, Gary lifted his blade horizontally to block Riku's downward swing. He was forced to turn again, sliding Riku's Keyblade off the length of Obsidian Heart and blocked Sora's sideways slash from the other direction.

Gathering himself, Gary sprang away, and as he glided back, he threw a wave of darkness at the pair.

Already aware of that attack's range, Riku dived forward under the radius of the strike and Sora simply leapt over it. On their feet again, the pair dodged away from each other once more as Gary sent a single shot of Darkness at them.

The blast barely missed Sora, but while Gary was gloating, Riku was already on him. Stabbing straight at the Prince, Riku's blade was knocked aside, but changing his grip, Riku grazed his enemy's side. Sparks flew from between their blades as they dragged across each other. Without looking, Riku knew Sora had recovered and the strike from Ultima staggered Gary further into Riku's attack.

Backing away before Gary could fire the blast of Darkness he had gathered in his left hand. The blast struck the ground Riku had occupied moments ago, but Gary was already turning to face Sora before the strike was barely loosed.

Sora blocked Gary's blade as he swept it around in an upwards arc, then leapt back, swinging Ultima around with a twist that caught Obsidian Heart in such a way that sent it flying from Gary's grip. Riku was there immediately, leaping down from above before Gary could recover his sword.

Sensing the blow coming, Gary turned and threw both his hands up, letting lose a double-blast of Darkness that sent Riku flying back the way he had come. Sora stepped forward and repeatedly stabbed Gary's unprotected side, staggering the Prince step by step until he finally spun around with Obsidian Heart in hand again and knocked aside Sora's blade, narrowly missing skewering Sora through the shoulder as the Keyblade Master allowed himself to fall back to the ground with the blow.

Rolling away before Gary could take advantage of the situation Sora was on his feet again and backed off some distance as he lifted a hand to his forehead.

Riku, recognizing the pose from before, moved in to distract Gary briefly. Rushing across the distance separating them, Riku aimed low, then dodged to the left and switched hands, slashing Gary across the side with the unexpected move. He continued past, even as Gary readied a blast of Darkness.

The spell never got the chance to go off, for a dome of fiery shield formed over Riku and he skidded to a stop, kneeling to take a breather while the ground bubbled and cracked as magma burst forth from the ground. Riku's gaze roved the area, finally spotting Kaiyou, lying exactly as they had left her, covered with a shield as well.

Once the entire ground had turned molten hot – except for that which was protected already – a fiery being burst forth, sending a geyser of magma pattering down across Riku's shield. Ifrit landed a short distance from Gary and lifted both arms before savagely beating the Prince across the melted ground.

After one last stomp on Gary, though, the shield evaporated and the ground cooled. Ifrit disappeared in a waft of smoke and flame and Sora dropped to a knee, panting and blinking. Riku got to his feet, "Why didn't it last so long this time?" he wondered, looking towards Kaiyou once again.

She was still unconscious.

'_She must have Amplified him last time...'_ Riku assumed.

Gary was climbing to his feet, though, and as he did, his form began to blur, and throwing back his head, he started to cackle. As he did, is white coat shredded, hair flaring out around him as black feathers began to spread out into wings around him. "You think a simple Summon can kill me? I am the Emperor of Darkness! I own the Amplifier! Your struggles are meaningless!"

He sprang into the air, his shirt hanging in shreds from his waist as he circled overhead. Obsidian Heart became a spear as he lined up for a dive on Riku, since he was the one capable of attacking at the moment.

Riku's gaze met Gary's – and in a flash, the silver-haired teen leapt upwards to meet the oncoming attack instead of dodging. Slapping aside the black spear, Riku brought his left hand up to take a solid punch at Gary.

Already committed to the attack, Gary couldn't pull up in time, and wheeling away he scowled at Riku as he rubbed his jaw.

"You're Twilight. You only have half your power here," Gary pointed out.

Riku didn't bother replying verbally, simply leveled a volley of Twilight energy at his target. Gary easily dodged the attack, but was surprised when a Keyblade slammed against his wing.

Looking down, he spotted Sora without a weapon, and turning, made a dive for the unarmed Keyblade Master.

Sora dived aside just before the obsidian spear could make him into Sorakabob and a second later, Ultima was in his hand again and hacking at Gary's other wing. This time, he'd hit with the sharp end and was doing more damage.

On the move the moment his feet touched the ground, Riku leapt into the air, Keyblade point downwards as he fell. Landing hard on Gary's unprotected back, Riku slammed his blade through, then pulled it free to take another swing. Gary was already moving, though and had sharply taken off, leaving Riku to drop to the ground and roll to take the momentum. Glancing towards Sora, Riku nodded and held out his hand.

Taking a running start, the brunet leapt just as Riku did, and with a mighty swing, Riku sent Sora flying higher – meeting Gary with a vicious x-slash across the chest before the Prince of Darkness knew what was coming.

Sora paid for it, though as the obsidian spear was swung down and slammed across the brunet's face, knocking his wits loose. Riku was forced to save Sora from crashing headfirst into the ground instead of continuing the attack.

Catching the shorter teen, Riku rolled, then came up and swung his Keyblade in a swift arc to block Obsidian Heart's spear tip from finding its mark in Riku's heart. The block worked, but only barely, and pain lanced along his shoulder.

It was a scratch, but enough to let Riku know that Obsidian Heart's poison was still quite potent. The darkness wasn't anything Riku hadn't handled before, and he shrugged off the poisonous influence without much thought. Sora, sprang to his feet at last, calling Ultima to his hand again and gasped as he spotted the rip in Riku's shoulder and blood dripping down his arm.

"I'm alright," Riku stated, "Keep fighting!"

"Right!" Sora breathed.

Readying themselves, Sora and Riku sprang apart as Gary came diving in again. The Obsidian spear sank into the ground where Sora had been standing, and as one, the pair came back in to simultaneously hack into Gary's wings.

Black feathers flew in a blinding whirl as Gary took off again, but he was struggling to retain altitude and Sora again sprang for Riku's hand as they met in the air and flew upwards to meet Gary midair.

This time, Gary was ready and blocked the first strike with his spear, but as Sora fell, he caught Riku's hand and twisting, threw the silver-haired teen higher into the air – above Gary. Swinging his Keyblade around, Riku's strike slammed solidly into Gary's right wing as the Prince tried to turn midair in order to block.

Going into an uncontrolled spiral downwards, Gary tried to block Riku's continued attacks as they fell at the same rate.

Somehow Gary managed to pull up just in time to keep from braining himself, but he did hit the ground and rolled some distance before coming to a stop.

In a sudden blast of feathers, Gary disappeared, but Riku didn't let his guard down.

"So you want to play with mythical beasts?" Gary's voice intoned, and the darkness where Gary's last form had fallen seemed to thicken, gaining form and shape.

Before Sora could blink, or dodge, a bolt of lightning struck down from the sky. Flying back, he lost hold of his Keyblade and rolled a head over heels a few times before finally climbing to his hands and knees. Riku was faster to dodge as a blast of flame came roaring his way. Still singed, he rolled to his feet again and looked up to finally see what form Gary had chosen to take this time.

Again the creature had wings, but they were bat-like and full of rotting holes – Riku would have been a fool to not recognize them as Maleficent's. As the darkness parted further, powerful lion paws stepped out, followed by the lion's head that had fire wafting from its parted fangs. Beside the Lion's head was that of a goat whose breath frosted in the air. The tail – that of a snake's head – lifted upwards and as it opened its jaws, lightning struck again. This time, Sora was slightly more ready for it and dodged, calling Ultima back to his hand.

Riku realized now that splitting up hardly made a difference as he began running parallel to Sora, but fairly far from him. The Lion's head turned to track Sora while the Goat turned towards Riku.

A blast of bitterly cold air shot past Riku, and he barely missed catching the full blast. The edge still frosted his hair and coat as he ran ahead of the stream. Finally, the Goat ran out of lung capacity, but Riku was no closer to it than before.

Sora was not faring much better, for even as he dodged a shot of lightning, the Lion blasted him with fire.

'_If only Kaiyou were on our side!'_ Riku couldn't help but think as he glanced towards her. _'I must have hit her pretty hard if she's still out...'_

Dodging a blast of lighting, Riku turned his attention back to the problem at hand. _'At least Gary will do his level best to not kill her. He needs her.'_

Rolling to his feet again, Riku was on the move once more, dashing away from the line of icy breath that left a trail along the ground as he ran – towards Kaiyou.

He needed a moment to think, and she was the best cover he was going to get. Unfortunately, that left Sora taking all the fire for a moment, but Sora was fairly used to that. Reaching Kaiyou, Riku knelt to make sure of her condition before turning to look at Sora – finding that the Lion was still concentrating fire on the brunet.

The Goat was staring at Riku in irritation and he also had the attention of the Snake. They were waiting.

"You can't do anything from there," Gary taunted, speaking through the Snake's mouth.

Looking down at his left hand, which rested on Kaiyou's slowly rising and falling back, Riku smirked slightly. _'Yes I can.'_

Clenching his fist, he reached for the power of the Materia that Aerith had given him – he'd nearly forgotten about it – but it was all he had right now. Throwing his hand towards Gary, he shouted, "Fire!" aiming for the Goat.

Shocked and in pain, the beast reared back, completely distracted by Riku's unexpected power. Sora, freed from constantly dodging, ran in beneath the beast that was as large as Cerberus, and leapt, swinging Ultima. The strike hit behind the Chimera's front leg, drawing some form of blood, for black liquid splashed out from the wound. Immediately rearing back, Gary's Chimera form slapped Sora away with its other paw and followed up with a combined blast from all three heads. Thankfully for Sora, the fire and ice canceled each other out for the most part, for he didn't have time to dodge at all, and only came out steaming and disoriented.

Riku lifted his hand again and cast, "Fire!" hitting the Goat once more – since his suspicion had been confirmed. Goat was vulnerable to fire, just as Lion was likely vulnerable to ice. _'Wish Aerith had given me at least another Materia...'_

This one was just going to have to work, it seemed.

Gary was not going to let Riku just sit next to Kaiyou and continue casting like that, though, and turned, abruptly charging Riku. Calling Gary's bluff, Riku remained where he was, then dived beneath the Chimera as it stopped and Snake came down to strike. Poisonous jaws clamping shut over empty air, Riku ducked under the Chimera to strike at the same spot Sora had wounded with his first physical hit. Prepared for the retaliation, Riku dodged further beneath the beast.

Sora was suddenly there, without a Keyblade in hand, but from the look in his eyes, Riku could tell what his plan was, and without pause, Riku cupped his hands and threw Sora up at the Chimera's hairy hindquarters.

Latching on, Sora was quick to climb further onto the Chimera's back where he called Ultima once more and took a hefty swing at the Snake as Riku sliced at a back foot. Gary's Chimera form turned, trying to catch the silver-haired teen without damaging Kaiyou, who lay helpless beneath the battle.

Finally catching up to Riku, one of the Lion's paws slapped him, sending the Twilight wielder flying through the air, dazed and slightly punctured from the claws he hadn't realized the Lion had. Landing hard and losing hold of his blade, Riku rolled several feet as a blast of fire followed him. Immediately getting his feet under him, he continued to run, regardless of whether he knew where he was heading. At least Sora was keeping the Snake busy, but now the Chimera was charging again and Sora was having a hard time keeping his footing.

Calling his blade back to his hand, Riku continued to move as his wits returned and threw his left hand out, casting Fire once more upon the Goat. With a great shake, Sora went flying, and Snake was quick to catch him in midair before throwing him at Riku.

Not wanting to dodge this time – since Sora seemed to be in rather poor shape after that treatment – Riku slowed slightly and leapt, catching Sora.

Only to be struck by lightning. Staggering as he landed, Riku tried to keep his legs moving, but this was proving to be a slightly more difficult battle than the last phase had been. As he ran, he dropped his Keyblade and fished in his pocket for a healing item, which he broke over Sora's barely conscious form.

The green powder did its job and Sora roused slowly, then realized what was going on. "Thanks Riku," he said and looked back towards the Chimera. "Snake!" he warned and Riku dodged, the lightning leaving a burnt ozone taste in his mouth as he successfully dodged the strike. "Angle back to Kaiyou," Sora said, "let's try that last one again."

Thankfully, he said this in a volume that only Riku heard – over the rush of cold blasting wind as the Goat recovered finally and took aim at them.

Gary, seeing their plan, though, moved to block the movement and stood firmly between Riku and Kaiyou. Fury bubbled in his heart at that.

Since Sora was recovered enough to continue fighting, Riku kicked him away as the Snake struck again. Taking opposite directions, Riku pulled out another potion and broke it on himself. He wasn't damaged too badly but staying in constant motion had run down his endurance slightly. _'Only have two left. Don't know how many Sora has...'_

Lifting his left hand, Riku cast Fire once more and knew that was the last time he could cast it. He'd brought health potions, not Mana.

Goat's head thrashed in pain and sagged, panting frosty breath, but not quite dead.

Continuing with the plan of trying to use Kaiyou as cover again, Riku continued to circle the beast. Unfortunately, Gary was not some dumb beast and he backed up, intending to stand over Kaiyou as he had before.

'_You Bastard!'_ Riku seethed, calling upon his Twilight powers and threw a solid, single blast at the Goat, since it was weakest. Maybe even if the damage he normally would have done was halved, it was better than nothing.

A familiar feeling flashed through him – Kaiyou's Amplification – and as he sent his volley off, Gary got an unexpected surprise. The blast vaporized the Goat's head and shouting in pain and fury, the Lion and Snake turned their full attention on Riku.

The lightning, Riku had expected, but the fire had been aimed just to the side, and as he dodged the one, he fell directly into the path of the other. Blinded and in intense pain, he fought to keep moving – and only the sudden ceasefire saved him.

Sora had reached the Chimera's side again and was latched onto its flank with a Keyblade stabbed into its side. Swinging himself up, by the blade, he landed on the beast's back again and called his blade to his hand, already in the motion of slicing at the Snake.

Now that it was occupied with Sora, Riku pulled himself onto his hands and knees and grasped a potion from his pocket, dropping it onto himself. It only helped a bit, he was still wounded, but he might need the other one for something more important. Calling his blade to his hand, Riku was on the move again.

Before Gary knew what had happened, Riku was beneath the Chimera, stabbing his Keyblade into the back of the beast's front leg. A sickening crack resounded and Riku knew he'd done enough damage to keep the beast from putting any weight on that leg. Dodging away quickly as he could, Riku avoided getting smashed when the Chimera tried to pounce on him with the remaining paw.

Sora was knocked off balance and tumbled to the ground, but he had done major damage to Snake, and that head was sagging now too. That didn't stop Lion from rearing around and sending a solid line of fire at Sora before the brunet could recover.

Knowing what kind of damage taking a full blast of that could do, Riku moved in again and leapt up to stab his blade into the Chimera's flank as Sora had done before and mounted its back. This time, however, he turned his back on the snake and bringing his blade up in both hands, Riku stabbed down as hard as he could into the Lion's neck.

Immediately rearing in pain, the beast dropped to the ground, then began to roll. Riku left his blade where it was and made a dash for it, hoping that Sora hadn't been caught under the Chimera.

He looked over his shoulder in time to see Sora stagger to his feet and use a potion on himself before calling his Keyblade to his hand again and leap atop the Chimera's exposed belly where he proceeded to hack like he was dealing with heavy overgrowth in a jungle.

Calling his own blade back to his hand, Riku ran towards Snake, which was still slightly disoriented, but trying to get its head up to strike at Sora while the undead wings of Maleficent made getting back up a slightly difficult maneuver.

Riku reached Snake just as it managed to rise high enough to strike at Sora. He was not in time to prevent Snake from capturing Sora in its jaws before the brunet even knew what danger he was in.

Slashing hard at the base of Snake's neck, Riku got the Chimera's attention, and it let Sora drop to the ground.

Bloody and barely moving, Sora reached for his sidepack and pulled out another Potion, breaking it on himself before staggering to his feet.

They both had to make a dash for it then, since the Chimera had gotten to its feet again. A blast of fire trailed after Sora as he was the slower one at this point. Riku dodged a bolt of lightning and kept moving, heading towards the Chimera's rear, since Snake was moving more than a bit slow. Thankfully, Lion ran out of breath before it could hit Sora with the blast, but then it charged.

Sora dropped to a knee and lifted his hand to his forehead – and recognizing what Sora was trying again, Riku recalled his fury at how Gary was using Kaiyou and leveled a blast of Twilight at the Chimera's rear. The strike was enough to send the beast staggering.

Then the ground began to melt and Riku found a bubble of shield covering him once again. Kneeling, he used this time to breathe and only peripherally watched as Ifrit blasted up from the ground and collided with the Chimera. _'Guess one of those potions Sora used was one that revived mana too... Wonder if he's got another. Not that Fire will likely work against the Lion...'_

As he watched, Riku was convinced of his assessment, for while Ifrit's physical blows were doing damage to the Lion portion of the Chimera, it wasn't half as much as the rest of the body was receiving.

With his final pouncing slam complete, Ifrit disappeared in a waft of smoke and the Snake's head had disappeared as well, quite defeated. The shield disappeared from around Riku and he was off running. Slamming his blade into the Chimera's flank, he mounted the beast again before it could do anything and taking his Keyblade in both hands, he slammed it down between the Chimera's shoulder blades.

While Gary tried to shake Riku off, Sora was on the move, and leaping up, he sent Ultima sailing straight into the Lion's throat.

With a heaving twist, the Chimera crashed to its side and before Riku could do more than land hard and roll once, the body of the beast was wafting away into the darkness from whence it came.

"Well," Gary growled, his voice disembodied for a moment before his original form reconstructed itself from the remains of the Chimera. "You two are certainly turning out to be bigger pests than I'd first thought... I should have killed you when I had the chance."

"Why didn't you before?" Sora demanded, but he hardly looked in any shape to back his demands.

Gary, however, was felt like pontificating and smiled charmingly, "Why – so I could have Kaiyou kill you, of course! Don't you know how much she hates you? She told me herself."

Riku was trembling, he knew he was at the edge of his strength. He still had that one potion left, but wasn't sure he should use it just yet. But the next blow might be the last...

He reached for his pocket, but stopped as Sora cast him a look. Sora was out. That was it. That was the last potion they had.

* * *

It was dark behind her eyelids.

So she opened them.

No... it was just plain dark.

Taking stock of the situation she found herself in, Kaiyou carefully moved to look around – finding that she was in a field of utter Darkness. There was no sky or ground. There was nothing except the Darkness...

And Gary.

"Why – so I could have Kaiyou kill you, of course! Don't you know how much she hates you? She told me herself," he was saying.

'_Of course I told you that,'_ she stopped herself from growling as she finally caught sight of him.

He was standing with his back towards her, Riku and Sora, barely standing at all, were facing him. Gary's coat was gone, as was his shirt and his body was covered with oozing wounds – yet he was doing his best to appear unbothered by his current state of health. _'Just like him.'_

Anger boiled up within her – brought on by the look that passed between Sora and Riku as Riku reached for his pocket.

'_I'm through being used.'_

Slowly, she got to her hands and knees and reached for her back pocket, pulling out her comb, which she ran through her hair several times before deciding to equip a Daisy and Sapphire hairclip on either side of her face.

She then climbed to her feet.

She had caught Sora and Riku's attention, and by proxy, Gary's.

Turning his back on his weakened opponents, Gary lifted a hand out towards her, "My sweet," he called her, "You're awake finally. I was so worried."

Kaiyou didn't bother answering him as she called Eternal Nocturne to her hand.

"Kaiyou," Gary called, "Tell them what you told me. About how much you hate the world – the universe."

Lifting her chin slightly, Kaiyou smirked, "I do hate it," she agreed. "I hate it how it is."

Gary turned his back towards her to look at Sora and Riku to see their reactions. Sora looked as if his heart was breaking, but Riku was watching her still.

"You see?" Gary laughed, "You've lost!" Looking towards Riku, he added, "Didn't I tell you – I would have her doing my bidding willingly?"

Her lips parted into a wider grin as she broke into motion.

While Eternal Nocturne was in her right hand, her left reached back into her pocket to pull something out. Bringing her blade back into a two-handed grip, she clipped the keychain Magini had given her next to the raven.

No one but Riku noticed, and Gary was shocked when he turned around to find that Kaiyou's target was now Riku or Sora – but him.

He only barely managed to bring Obsidian Heart out and into a block in time, his eyes wide. "What?" he demanded. "How dare you defy me!"

Kaiyou drew back, still grinning as she swung again. "You're a blind idiot – just like always! I only had to say what you wanted to hear! Oh I never would have done it without your contamination – lying was too difficult for me then. But thanks to you, I lied and lied and got so good at it that you never noticed!"

He sprang away from her to gain some distance and scowled. "You're still contaminated. You can't kill me with Darkness."

"No," Kaiyou replied, pausing as she glanced from Riku to Sora.

Sora was now grinning ear to ear in joy and despite his wounds, lifted his blade. Riku even allowed himself a slight smile and even cast her a wink as the three of them turned to face Gary.

Gathering herself, Kaiyou sprinted forward, clutching her Keyblade in both hands as she desperately called out to the second chain on it.

In that moment, Sora and Riku went into motion as well.

Her strike missed as Gary disappeared in a flurry of black smoke. Reappearing, he struck at Sora from the side, his strike hitting, but Sora was fast enough to retaliate before Gary could get away and come at Riku from the other flank.

Having expected the move, Riku was ready and blocked. He wasn't given the chance to attack as Gary disappeared again.

"Kaiyou!" Sora called, "You've got to get us out of this Darkness!"

Shaking her head, Kaiyou didn't have the chance to look at him, for Gary had appeared out of nowhere and come straight at her, slamming his elbow into her stomach before slicing her across the stomach once again. Taking the blow, she collapsed back a few steps, then brought her blade up to block his next attack, then stepped forward to retaliate.

"How dare you betray me! I gave you purpose – I gave you feelings of your own! Not shades of emotions you'd never have known the full experience of!" Gary snarled as they stood with their blades locked.

Narrowing her gaze, Kaiyou concentrated, then cast Ice through her blade as she shoved away from him, throwing the volley his direction. The shot missed as he turned to smoke again.

Sora grunted as he was struck once more – driven to his knees by the heavy blow. Gary stood behind him, blade descending to stab through Sora's shoulder as the brunet dodged – but not quite enough.

Kaiyou turned to stare, eyes wide as she felt Sora's shock and pain rattle down their link – the first she'd felt from him in so long.

She reached for him – for his light – wanting desperately to feel things that were good.

"You'll never free yourself from my contamination!" Gary shouted at her as he disappeared. Riku's strike swept through the air where he had been, and while he was there, the silver-haired teen dropped his last potion on Sora.

'_Gary is wrong!'_

Kaiyou was ready to spin around and defend herself as Gary came at her from the left. Blocking his first blow, she let him drive her back several steps as if he were intimidating her once more – then ducked a slice from Obsidian Heart that would have beheaded her, stabbing her own Keyblade through his midsection.

He turned to smoke as she ripped the blade to the side in an attempt to disembowel him.

Appearing some distance away again, Gary clutched his new wound, "You can't hurt me with Darkness!" he lifted his hand, displaying that the wound was healing, "You won't ever be free of it either."

"Yes she will!" Sora objected, staggering to his feet and came running at Gary, blade raised.

This time, Gary blocked the attack and the next two wild swings from Sora even as Riku moved to flank.

"She likes the darkness too much!" Gary cackled and disappeared.

Kaiyou stopped, watching as Gary reappeared behind Riku and slashed, opening a wide gash across his back.

Her heart ached for him – selfishly not wanting him to be hurt.

'_He's right... I may be selfish... but these are feelings that I'm generating. Not reflections from him.'_

Tears came to her eyes as she searched her blackened heart.

Gary had disappeared after he had delivered his blow to Riku and reappeared to knock Ultima from Sora's hands and slice across the brunet's side, dropping Sora to his knees again as the darkness began to poison him.

Riku managed to strike then, but it was a glancing blow, and Kaiyou lifted Eternal Nocturne to look at it more closely.

'_I want to save them. But not because they're worth saving. I want to kill Gary. That's selfish of me. No matter how it would benefit the universe to have Gary dead, it's still selfish. I'm reaching for the Light out of selfish reasons. Because I know that is what will kill him.'_

Gary appeared behind her then and she dodged his slash, then rolled to her feet again, stilling her heart as she stared at him. He stared at her coldly – no longer wearing the masks.

This was his true form, and Kaiyou silently took it in – and he stood there, letting her.

Riku was moving again and said, "Attack, Kaiyou!" as he passed her.

Gary wasn't there to receive Riku's strike.

"Fight!" Riku shouted at her as she dodged Gary's strike from her side and blocked the second. He was gone again as Riku came back around to protect her.

"Fight!" he urged, turning to look at her, his blue-green gaze burning her with what little light he had.

Staring up at him, Kaiyou smiled slightly and spoke with all her selfish little heart.

"I love you."

Before he could respond, Obsidian Heart emerged from his midsection – Gary having appeared behind Riku in his distraction.

Slowly, Riku sank to his knees, then dropped forward to land on his side, sliding off Gary's blade, blood pooling around him.

"Well, lot of good that did him," Gary said sarcastically.

Kaiyou smiled at Gary, "I had to tell him," she said, "Because it's something I honestly feel, not just a reflection of his love for me."

Lifting Eternal Nocturne high, Kaiyou closed her eyes and focused her will on the blade, reaching for neither Light, nor Dark, but something deeper.

She reached for herself.

Bursting into motion, Kaiyou leapt at Gary – and he stood there, watching in amusement.

He didn't bother blocking.

As her blade descended, Eternal Nocturne shattered – the pieces flying in all directions.

Gary stepped back slightly, lifting his forearm in slight shock – but his blade was out of alignment when he realized what had happened.

As Eternal Nocturne's pieces wafted away in black smoke, a new blade formed in Kaiyou's hands, building itself piece by piece out of icy shards of diamond.

He tried to bring his blade in line to block, and the edge skidded along the surface of the shaft of her Keyblade, sending up sparks. For a second, he managed to stop her and they stood in a silent tableau – Sora and Riku had managed to prop themselves up enough to watch in shock.

Light flickered from the white diamond that still hung from the end of her Keyblade – next to the black diamond that was also attached to the pommel. The light traveled up her diamond-clear blade, growing in intensity as Kaiyou spoke. "You made a mistake in gloating about how I'd never be free of you."

She smiled.

"See – my last selfish decision ... is to become Nothing. Whole, but Nothing all the same. And as Nothing – I can choose."

The light grew brighter and she leaned in, pressing Diamond Heart against Gary's blade, more sparks flying as his blade began to crackle under the pressure.

Riku, being closer, was the first to lift a bloody hand to shade his eyes as the light brightened.

Grasping the light even more tightly, Kaiyou let it flow through her until it blinded Sora and Riku, forcing them back and to cover their eyes.

Obsidian Heart – unable to take the strain – finally cracked, and in an explosion of black lightning, it shattered.

Defenseless, Gary watched as Kaiyou's blade descended, unopposed.

She drew back, and with Diamond Heart glowing with the light of a thousand suns, she struck again, pulled back and struck again, beating Gary to his knees, a calm look on her face.

Pausing, she lifted her blade high – watching as he turned his face to look up at her – selfish hatred blended with the black blood that was evaporating in the strength of the light Kaiyou had chosen to Amplify.

"I neither hate you, nor like you. I've made up my mind," Kaiyou stated. "I will use whichever weapon gets the job done. Light _OR_ Dark, and neither you, nor anyone else will sway me in my choices."

Taking a breath, she shouted:

"FROM NOW ON! _I WILL CHOOSE!_"

Her final blow landed as he lifted an arm – as if that would defend him where his blade had already broken.

The light exploded outwards in a blinding wave that was accompanied by Gary's scream of horror and anguish.

* * *

AN: I hope you all forgive me for taking so long with this. There were, admittedly, some distractions, but.... on the other hand, I honestly didn't think I could get away with a pitiful little battle where Gary just gets beat around a little by Sora and Riku and then bites it. So here it is. The ending you've all been desperately begging me for. I hope you liked it.

Next Chapter: The Heart of Sanctuary...


	89. The Heart of Sanctuary

_Chapter 89_

_(The Heart of Sanctuary)_

Gasping as his vision finally cleared, Sora rubbed his eyes and straightened, looking around to find himself back in the field.

Riku was standing beside him, staring straight ahead, a slight smile on his face and curious, Sora followed his line of sight to find Kaiyou standing in front of them.

She had her back towards them – a soft breeze blew her hair, hip length, like Umi's had been, but brunet. She was again, wearing the outfit the Fairies had given her, but in her hand, she held a blade that looked to be made of ice crystals formed into a shape that was something like the Kingdom Key. Hanging from the pommel were two keychains; one black, one white.

Slowly, she turned, to face them.

"Sorry... I had a plan," she said.

Breaking into a grin, he dashed towards her, wrapping his arms around her in a tight embrace, which she returned, but her hands fell away a moment later, Keyblade dropping to the ground and disappearing.

"Kaiyou," Sora sniffled into her hair as he stroked it. "I'm so – so glad you're alright!"

"Oh, quit blubbering," Riku sighed and tapped the side of Sora's head. "She's passed out."

Blinking and drawing back, Sora gasped, "Kaiyou? Kaiyou! Wake up!" Uselessly, he shook her, simply making her head flop.

"She probably used a lot of energy. You know how she always got whenever she was amplifying," Riku pointed out.

"Oh..." Looking down at her, Sora grinned, "Let's get her home!"

Sweeping Kaiyou up into his arms, he tucked her face against his shoulder and turned, blinking as he found his path blocked by two young girls.

Erin stepped forward, leaning in, "Wow! You look just like her! Are you related?"

Sora grinned broadly, "Yeah, she's my twin! I've been looking for her for a really long time."

Riku shook his head slightly.

Alisa clasped her hands together, "That's really amazing," she sniffled. "I'm so happy for her!"

"I hope I have a cool brother like you somewhere," Erin added.

"You know," Riku sighed, "It's not just about blood relations," he started off and after a second, Sora followed, Kaiyou's hair tickling his knee as he walked.

Turning towards Erin, Alisa asked, "Was that boy wearing Kaiyou's necklace?"

"The one that if we even looked at it too long, she'd get pissed?" Erin paused, "You know, I think he was. She certainly didn't come back with it on..."

They both broke into giggles.

* * *

Meeting Lisha on the other side of the fence, the woman brushed Kaiyou's hair back from her face then breathed a sigh of relief. "We need to get out of here," she said and opened the back door of her car. She had brought it around while Riku and Sora had been in the battle of their lives.

Climbing into the back, Sora and Riku braced Kaiyou between them and they took off, heading back to Lisha's apartment.

That was when Sora turned to Riku and said, "Hey. We're not hurt."

Riku stared at Sora, "Took you that long to notice. I think she healed us."

The ride back to Lisha's place wasn't half as long as the ride around town looking for Kaiyou had been, and shortly, they had her up the stairs and lying in Lisha's bed. After that, Lisha turned on the television and Sora was completely engrossed in whatever was on. Riku ... had a few things to think about, and Lisha was on the phone with her husband.

He could have tried opening a portal to take them home, but didn't feel like it quite yet – despite having been healed completely by Kaiyou's final amplification. Instead, he sank down on the couch and leaned his head back, closing his eyes.

* * *

It was with great reluctance that Kaiyou opened her eyes.

Expecting to see the ceiling of the room she shared with Alisa and Erin, she was slightly surprised to find herself in a completely different setting – yet one of the pictures on the nightstand next to her immediately told her in whose bed she was lying.

Sitting up slowly, she slid her feet onto the floor and picked up the small framed portrait.

Dan, Lisha, Rick, and herself – all standing close together – like a real family, smiling. Even she had something of a real smile on her lips, instead of her usual pasted on expression.

'_Was it all a dream?'_

'_No. The nightmare is over.'_

Nearly dropping the picture, Kaiyou straightened, "Umi!" she breathed. _'You didn't abandon me!'_

'_I was always here, Kitten. You just couldn't hear me in the darkness.'_

'_That was you crying? I didn't know you could cry.'_

Umi was silent for a long moment, then a shadow of her Nobody stepped out and knelt before her, hands on Kaiyou's knees.

"Of all the lives we've lived," Umi said softly, looking up at Kaiyou, "I like this one the best."

Unsure of what Umi meant by that Kaiyou stared down at her Soul, then watched as Umi stood again and hugged her, disappearing once more. Looking down at the picture in her lap, she touched Rick's face. She still thought he was a handsome young man. _'Funny how he kinda looks like Riku... with a palette shift. And curly hair.'_ She shook her head as she closed her eyes, remembering Rick as clearly as if she had just seen him. _'Acted nothing like Riku though.'_

Setting the picture back into its place, Kaiyou stood and found her shoes beside the bed.

Out the window, it was dark and she could hear voices. In her Heart, she could hear Sora, and Riku and knew they were nearby. A smile slipped onto her lips as she caught a reflection of Sora's amusement. He was watching some show. Riku was brooding, though.

'_Probably because I distracted him at the wrong moment. He'll likely be a bit angry at me for that, but... He'll get over it.'_

Brushing her hair back over her shoulders, she paused and turned, catching a glimpse of herself in the vanity mirror. "My hair..." she turned her back and looked over her shoulder at the long fall of hair, "How'd that happen?"

'_Kosuiko's hair was never cut. She was your body,'_ Umi supplied.

"So you mean that even when Gary stole me to this world, I wasn't fully... synchronized with myself?"

'_Exactly.'_

Opening the bedroom door, Kaiyou headed out into the living room of a small apartment in New York. It wasn't one she'd been in before, but she recognized a lot of the furniture. Dan and Sora were sitting on the couch, watching some show and didn't notice the door open. The familiar scent of one of Lisha's special dishes hit Kaiyou's nose and she turned to the right, spotting Riku helping the short redheaded woman in the kitchen.

Lisha was talking to Riku about something, but Kaiyou couldn't hear over the sitcom.

Kaiyou, unable to decide which she wanted to do first, stood there silently, absorbing the generally positive feelings in the area. _'It's nice to be myself again...'_

"Kaiyou!"

Opening her eyes, she turned to find that Lisha had noticed her – and only a second later, was being clutched by the slightly shorter woman. Lifting her arms, Kaiyou returned the hug immediately. A second later, Dan was there, hugging her from the other side and Kaiyou had to close her eyes to keep from crying.

"Oh Kaiyou," Lisha was sniffling, "I missed you so much! I was so worried – especially when these boys showed up and said you were in trouble!"

Dan didn't bother saying anything at all, just hugged her at Lisha like Laguna and Ellone had hugged her. It wasn't until Riku stated that dinner was done that the two reluctantly disengaged from Kaiyou and Lisha wiped her eyes and went off to fine some tissues. Dan dragged her to the table – an old battered piece of wood that she fondly remembered the first time she'd sat at.

Unlike many of the other homes she'd been put in, this one had been the best. Sora stole the seat next to her and Riku was forced to sit on the other side of Sora while Dan got an extra chair and together they ate. "You two never did say anything about how the battle went," Dan started.

Sora, mid-chew, quickly swallowed and started talking at a hundred miles per minute about how Gary had done this and Riku had been totally awesome and how Sora had Summoned Ifrit twice and how Riku had blasted away with fire.

"How _did_ you do that? Did Merlin teach you magic?" Sora rounded on Riku.

"I have a Materia. Aerith gave it to me," Riku replied lifting his left wrist and somehow... pulled an orb from it, handing it over to Sora to let the brunet look at it.

In Sora's distraction, Riku glanced over at Kaiyou, meeting her eyes.

She winced slightly and turned back to her food.

"What do you plan on doing now?" Lisha asked.

"We have to go home," Sora said immediately. "Mom and Dad will be worried."

"Roxas is going to be very angry," Kaiyou put in, "That you left him."

She paused and looked at Sora fully, brows knitting. "How did that happen? Roxas isn't here but you're whole."

"That other book had plans for a weapon in in," Riku stated, "They built it, but instead of a gun that stole life-force as the original plans stated, they modified it to steal Hearts. Sora broke it. It exploded."

"So Roxas is half and you're whole?"

Sora shook his head, "No, he was there too. Xaldin and Saix were fighting us along with Xemnas, so we needed three."

A smile quirked Kaiyou's lips at that and she turned back to eating. Gail wasn't a very good cook. Or more, Kaiyou disliked everything about Gail and so had chosen to dislike her cooking as well. Getting one last meal with Lisha was about as fond a farewell to this world as Kaiyou could have ever wished for. "Your home, tell us about it?" Lisha requested, "Kaiyou?"

Sora closed his mouth as he realized who the question had been directed at and decided to eat as Kaiyou pondered for a minute before answering. "Our parents," she glanced at Sora, "Are the, well, they're called 'President' but it's more like elected ruler for life or something. If not life, at least a fairly long time. So Ellone and Laguna have to be in Esthar a lot... but they own a house on a chain of islands called Destiny Islands... there's an island that was too small and mountainous to build anything on and it's the play island where all the kids go to hang out." She paused, "I didn't know the sky could be so blue or the water so clear. It's like everything is sharper – like you're not looking at the world through a dirty window or something."

Lisha smiled, "It sounds beautiful."

Blushing slightly, Kaiyou nodded and looked down at her plate and pushed what was left on it around with her fork. "I'll keep in touch," she said, "I should be able to keep that promise now."

Sora nodded, "It shouldn't be hard," he looked towards Kaiyou, "Dad's made a special uh... what was it called?"

"Inter-planetary Contact Department," Riku supplied, "of which you're probably a member too," he looked at Kaiyou. She nodded, then looked back down at her plate.

"Are you alright?" Dan asked, reaching across the table to touch her arm.

Looking up at him, she smiled slightly, "Yes and no, I guess..." blushing slightly, she looked towards Sora and Riku, "Did they tell you... what I am?"

Lisha nodded.

"Well, I'm no longer poisoned by Darkness..." she paused to see if they understood that, then continued, "But that means that I'm back to what I was. I have a heart, but it's really my mind that guides my actions rather than emotions. I understand that now," she sighed, "It's just – I like being with you. I miss Rick. But I know I have to move on."

"He would want it that way," Lisha said gently. "He would have wanted you to live every day to the fullest."

Kaiyou nodded slowly.

"Yes," she said finally, "Yes, he would."

She smiled, then turned the topic towards telling Lisha everything that had happened, nearly forgetting to eat.

* * *

Returning to Destiny Islands hadn't been as hard as getting to the Shadow of their world – what with Kaiyou actively amplifying Riku's powers. The portal opened into the ocean, some distance from the main island, and sopping wet, Kaiyou stepped onto the shore of the world of her birth.

'_Home at last,'_ she told Umi who silently agreed with her.

Infected by Sora's joy, she smiled and broke into a jog, forcing Riku and Sora to follow her back to the house Sora had been raised in by Edea and Cid – as well as his parents, though those memories were still a little muddled by Ellone's workings. It wasn't that big a deal, though.

Reaching the front door, Kaiyou lifted a finger to her lips and tested the knob to make sure the door was open before slamming it and shouting, "I'm HOME!"

Sora burst into a cackle as someone automatically shouted, "Don't slam the door!"

In the living room, Kairi and Olette had been working on the scrap book, Roxas was sitting playing one of Sora's video games on the TV with Pence and Hayner.

As one, the group looked towards the door, mouths falling open as Kaiyou walked in, still sopping wet, Riku and Sora behind her.

She was immediately mobbed by the girls, and she returned their joyful hugs, at peace with the knowledge that it was their feelings for her she was returning. It hardly mattered. _'At least I'll always know who my friends are.'_

Once Kairi and Olette pried themselves away, Kaiyou threw herself at Roxas and hugged him wetly – since he was still glaring at Riku and Sora. "Oh, give it up," she told him. "It wasn't like they were going to have a second change to open that portal. It was random chance that I amplified Riku at that exact moment anyway." She kissed his cheek and smiled at him. "It's over now. Gary is gone." She smirked, "I fried his ass."

Stepping back, she saw Hayner's hand lifted – he was grinning. She high-fived him.

Turning, Kaiyou gave Pence a hug and peck on the cheek as well.

At last, the group noticed Edea standing at the back of the crowd, and she stepped forward to hug Kaiyou and Sora tightly. "Cid's calling your parents right now," she told them.

Kaiyou nodded and returned Edea's hug as well, even if she didn't know the woman that well, she did at least know that Edea was there for her, too.

* * *

It only took a few hours for Laguna to arrive with Ellone, and by then, Kairi and Olette had finished showing Kaiyou the album they had made. Kaiyou made sure to thank them, tears in her eyes.

'_This is the nicest gift anyone's ever given me,'_ she told Umi.

'_Definitely thoughtful,_' Umi agreed.

Then it was dinner time, and since the dining room wouldn't hold everyone, they had opted to have dinner in the living room, everyone finding seats where they would.

After the recap of Gary's death, the topic turned slightly as Kaiyou asked, "What now?"

"Well," Laguna said, gesturing with his fork, "You'll be enrolled in school with Roxas. And then you'll both be given Super Top Secret Clearance ratings and be inducted into my new Department of Interplanetary Agents!"

Kaiyou rolled her eyes, "And what would that department be doing? Are we the only members?"

"Riku and Sora are members too," Laguna supplied, "And you'll be investigating other worlds for possibility of trade and alliances as well as threats."

"We'll need a support staff to keep track of information," Kaiyou pointed out, "And other agents to take care of keeping relations open once established."

Laguna thought on that briefly, then nodded, "Right, very true. I'll get onto that!"

"The SeeDs aren't doing much," Cid put in.

"Ah," Laguna mused, "True also!"

"I'd like to join as well," Hayner stated, looking up from his plate, all eyes turned towards him, but he glanced at Kaiyou. "It's like you said... My world died, but that doesn't mean I can't make a new home, or help rebuild it somehow."

Kaiyou nodded to that, remembering that she had indeed told him that, "Moving forward, moving on," she said, "after loss... at least I've learned that much. Can't disappoint those who loved me that I lost."

Hayner nodded at that and Olette sniffled briefly and dabbed the edge of her eye before putting on a smile. "I'd like to help too."

"And me," Pence added, "We've still got each other, and if we don't do it together..."

"Then Twilight Town is truly gone," Hayner finished, then looked back towards Laguna.

He nodded, "I'll have you enrolled in school with the others and make sure you're given every chance to catch up. You'll be given clearances as well and special classes at the SeeD academy after you graduate high school in the types of tasks we'll need you to do." He looked towards Sora, Roxas, Riku, and Kaiyou, "Same goes for you."

"And me?"

Looking towards Kairi, Laguna grinned, "You too, of course!"

"What about everyone else involved in all of this?" Kaiyou asked.

"Well, Zack has signed on as one of my guards, but I think he'd be better suited elsewhere," Laguna said, "I'll be reassigning Vincent to the Department of Interplanetary Agents, along with Rude and Reno, since, as you said, I'll need investigations done and they're good at that kind of thing. Squall's head of the department," he looked at Sora, "Sorry, but people would look at me odd if I made you head of it..."

"Being that he's sixteen?" Kaiyou put in, amused, "Yeah. That would really fly."

"Huh?" Sora blinked. "But... oh... alright."

"That about settles it for the DIA, for now anyway," Laguna sighed, settling back on the couch, smiling happily as he looked down on his odd collection of children, his wife at his side and best friends, Edea and Cid on the other.

He turned the topic to other things then – less serious things, such as living arrangements with such a sudden influx of people.

* * *

After dinner, somehow Kaiyou managed to get out into the backyard without anyone following her. She simply needed a breath of fresh air and a moment of quiet.

Only to find a hand touching her shoulder before she'd even realized anyone was there.

Turning, she looked up to find Riku standing beside her.

"Did you have to go and... say that in the middle of a battle?" he asked, "You know, getting gutted kind of hurt."

Looking down at her hands, Kaiyou twisted her fingers together.

"I'm sorry... but I'm not sorry. I had to tell you – while I had a heart and feelings of my own. I ...had to tell you when I knew that it was _my_ feelings, rather than a reflection of yours."

Riku moved to stand in front of her, and Kaiyou lifted her eyes to look into his.

"So tell me then – if you still remember... what makes you... love me?"

Closing her eyes, Kaiyou reached back into her memory, and aided by Umi, found that moment. Opening her eyes again, she met Riku's gaze.

"You don't want to use me, but you need me. And at the time... I selfishly wanted you to rely on me. I wanted to be the one you told all your sins to – the one to keep them. I...wanted to be your everything – because I could be."

Riku silently stared down at her, "But what're you getting out of the deal?"

Kaiyou paused before answering, "Someone who will always have my back. Someone who will think of me as the, or nearly the most important thing in his life... Someone who could take my secrets and bury them just as I took his... A partner in crime – a best friend... and more than that."

Lifting his hands from her shoulders, Riku cupped her face gently and leaned down to place his lips upon hers.

Lowering her barriers, Kaiyou was nearly overcome with tears and returned his kiss as she lifted her hands past his arms and around his neck. His hands slid down her neck, to her shoulders and past to rest gently on her hips as he drew back to look down at her.

"Then let's be partners in crime... and more," he offered.

* * *

_Dear Diary._

Kaiyou stared at the first two words in her new book.

_It's been a week since returning home. Today was my first day at school. _

Sora had given her this book that evening after dinner, along with her old one. "Make sure to write down good things too?" he had requested and she had hugged him.

_Today was a little scary... but good still._

_I was introduced to the class as Aros Loiri. Roxas was there too. He looked uncomfortable, and I could tell everyone in the class was really curious about us – and Hayner, Pence, and Olette. We were sort of scattered in the class, put next to people the teacher thought would be able to help us._

_I like the girl's uniform, but I'll stick to the boy's for a while, since we do have a choice. All the girls kept watching me and Roxas, waiting to see if we're as stupid as Sora. It was kind of funny... Or maybe I was picking that up from Riku._

_We had lunch together in the school's courtyard, and talked about things we hadn't gotten to talk about before._

_Like the Princes of Darkness and the Organization. _

_It turns out that Xemnas is the only one we can confirm as dead and not coming back. Zack said he had a fight with a guy who used cards and killed him. Sora named that Organization member as Luxord, and likely not permanently dead. The same goes for Xaldin and Siax. We don't know about most of the others except for Demyx and Axel. Demyx has decided to stick around and joined the DIA. He's not that great at missions, but he has powers that others don't and information. So he got in fairly easily. Axel – Reno, has promised to keep Demyx in check. They've started something of a band, actually. Demyx asked me to join. I think I will. It'll be something to do after school._

_Speaking of which, Riku's urging me to join the track team too. He says its co-ed. Not that that really matters to me. I might join that too, though._

Kaiyou paused her pen and looked down at her writing, then settled back in her bed. The house Sora had grown up in was too small for six kids of mixed gender, and so, Laguna had bought a new house and because he was the president, it was a done deal fairly shortly. This new house had given Kaiyou and Olette a room to share, which Kaiyou didn't mind. Sora and Roxas shared a room, and Hayner and Pence had another. Kaiyou was good at sharing a room. Sora was having trouble, though, as was Hayner. _'They'll get over it,'_ Kaiyou told Umi.

_In any case, Maleficent is probably permanently destroyed – considering that Gary apparently ate her. Of the Princes... Rufus, Shuyin, and Kefka are gone. Gary's really gone. ...I hope... I still have this little niggling doubt that he'll be haunting me for some time yet. If not in the flesh than at least in memory. Seymour isn't confirmed, and Sora, Roxas, Riku and I went looking for Kuja. We couldn't find him. Sephiroth and Cloud are apparently still missing, and in our visit to Radiant Garden, we acquired two more to add to the flock of weirdos in the DIA – Loz and Yazoo, who are apparently completely incapable of self-direction. They want their dear big brother Kadaj, even in his present form as Riku. Riku's settling his past on his own... well, with occasional help from me. I'm not even sure I should write down in here the things he's told me – even if I trust everyone in this house to keep out of my stuff._

_Less a trust issue of the present... but of the future._

_I guess maybe later on, I'll burn these books, just to make sure nothing ever gets out. Or archive them as classified in the DIA..._

Kaiyou sighed at that thought, but it was likely inevitable that her diaries would contain classified information and as a result, it was likely she would have to turn them in, or someone later on would confiscate them. '_I'd rather turn them in than have to have them taken from me. But for now, these books are mine and who would think to look in them for classified government secrets anyway? I've got ways of locking them. Heh.'_

_Back to the topic at hand; Mickey is doing well, his kingdom is being rebuilt and he's assisting Toon Town now that he knows they need help. _

_Yuna and her posse are alright. They're back to treasure hunting. Lulu and Wakka have... gotten knocked up. Apparently that's not much of a surprise to anyone in that group but it bothers me just a bit. Yuna said that before the disaster, they were married and had a baby. I dunno. Relative age vs real age. They've grown up twice now, so maybe they're better suited to being parents than most sixteen year olds I know. God save us all if Sora EVER breeds..._

_Yuffie is still..._

_Squall had her body moved here and it is preserved in the DIA's new building. He's a bit weird, being obsessed over her._

_Seifer's moving in on making a relationship with Olette. Hayner's still got his nose out of joint about it, but he doesn't say anything to either of them at least. Riku and I are... getting closer, I think. After that kiss in the back yard... well, we try to keep things low key, but I think people have a way of knowing when two people are more interested in paying attention to each other than... well, much of anything else._

_I finally visited Alexandria again and ah... admitted to Dagger that I was a girl – to her, alone, so that no one else would know about the whole Kiss-thing. She was so embarrassed, I felt really bad about it, but she needed to be told._

_Her boyfriend still hasn't reappeared, though. I hope he's alright. For her sake. Vivi's doing well, as is his clan of Black Mages. I'm glad Sora got him home when I couldn't... but I feel bad for letting him down. He said he was just glad to know that I was alive and safe now and hugged me._

_Tifa's taken over fixing Radiant Garden in Squall's absence. She said there was a group called the WRO or something like that helping fix things, but their leader had disappeared. She's stepped in for now. Cid – Highwind – is fixing Tron, slowly. Don't think that computer system will ever be the same, honestly. Umi said that my old diary might have bits of backup in it, but not enough to do any good; I'm afraid to let that thing out of my hands again, though._

_That's about it for everyone._

Kaiyou turned, putting her pen into the cup on her nightstand, then opened the first drawer to set the book into. It was green like the first book. Settling back in her bed again, she looked out the window and across the lawn of the backyard, past the tree planted there, past the roofs of the town and towards the play island. The setting sun painted everything bright gold, and in the Twilight, she could feel Riku's heart more clearly.

She knew he was up to something, but not quite what.

He'd tell her when he was finished, she knew.

In the meantime... Kaiyou had a few things to work on herself.

Sora and Roxas's birthday was coming up – and hers by extension.

'_Funny to think that I'm the older twin; born only a few hours before Sora, but still on a different day.'_

Reaching into the top drawer again, she brought out the twigs, string, feathers, and beads she'd been working with, carefully crafting her gifts for her brothers. One was a dream catcher, the other a sun catcher, and while they looked similar, their purpose was different. The sun catcher would go to Roxas – to brighten his days. The dream catcher would go to Sora.

She worked as she hummed softly to herself:

"I put a spell on you..."

.

.

.

.

.

.

* * *

**Full Disclaimer:**

First: I do not own much of anything that appeared in this fic. Maybe I own the plot, but it's not really a plot I could use in anything original, so it's not something worth griping over, but here's the breakdown...

Content found in the Kingdom Hearts series belongs to Disney and Square Enix.

Content of the Final Fantasy universes belongs to Square (which includes FF6, FF7, FF8, FF9, and FF10/10-2).

All characters are owned by Disney or Square Enix, or both, or someone else, except Gary and Kaiyou (which include all her various incarnations), which are mine but since their backgrounds are so tied in with all the stuff I don't own, it hardly matters that I own them.

I made absolutely no money off this fic, the production of this fic, or any of the artwork, side stories, or youtube vids I have produced during the creation of this fic. Also, I do not have any money, so it's really not worth a lawsuit. Seriously. I'm just out of college. Not going to have any money for a while.

Second: I state for the record that drinking, smoking, swearing, teen pregnancy, rape, and violence are Bad. (but they make for a cool story...)

This point is for all the Disney nuts out there that didn't notice that my Fic was rated 'Teen' and got upset at the content. I tried not to have any swearing. Some of the cursing was in the movie scripts and I couldn't justify changing the word for some reason or another – such as "Smartass" in ToonTown. And nearer the end, I just got lazy and stuff. There were some things that happened to Kosuiko and another character from Kaiyou's past, too, that were of adult nature. For that, I am sorry, but these parts were edited to be slightly more... Teen rated. My original intention had been for Kaiyou to have been the one raped in her memory. As for when Gary found Koko – I leave it up to you readers to decide what really happened in that exchange. I've got my own version in my head, but I didn't think it had a place in this story.

I really held myself back in some places – as I do tend towards more "M" ratings in my writing, even if the characters involved are young.

I probably shouldn't do that.

Maybe in the edit I'll change the curse words. But anyway, if anything in this fic offended you, I'm sorry! Not really. If you didn't like it and read all the way to this chapter... well that's just a silly thing to do. Why'd you go and do that?

Third: uh, did I have a third point? Oh yes. This fic was NOT a Self Insert! Kaiyou is really nothing like me at all. Maybe a little like what I'd like to be, but not really. I don't think I'd be able to stand myself if I was THAT Angsty! I did take some elements of my own background to construct hers, but I assure you, my life was nowhere near as tragic as hers. Mostly it was the moving to a new place every year and what that'll do to a kid that I took and magnified, since my experience was just from being an Air Force brat.

...

Ah-hem! Anyway. Now that I'm done with the full disclaimer, here's my real Author's Note:

I hope you liked my fic, actually. I put a lot of work into it - getting the Disney characters right and finding good movies to include that hadn't been used in the games and some way to incorporate Sora and Co. into those moves. Then there was the trouble of making the plot interesting. The plot was the hardest. I hope it wasn't as transparent as _I _thought it was (but I'm the writer, so I already knew what was going to happen)!

My purpose for writing this, initially was because I'd had a funny idea of some cosplayer from our world getting transported to Destiny Islands and getting mistaken for Sora. That morphed into Kaiyou, though and the rest is about 390,000 words. Additionally, I was kinda irritated at the KH universe for making use of the Final Fantasy characters without taking into account their backgrounds. Because why would Cloud be all pissy and in his Advent Children outfit if Aerith is still alive? It didn't make sense. So, I was trying to make some sense of it all. In the process, I screwed up some of the KH things – like Hearts, Heartless, and Nobodies. I'm aware of this, but to be honest, I really didn't play through KH1. Nor did I much like it. I picked that game up for the sole fact that Sephiroth was in it – and I never got to fight him in the game I played because my game glitches on the Coliseum and I can't get in to fight anything let alone Sephiroth. I did use someone else's save-game data and got in, though. He kicked my ass.

Alternate bosses are so damn hard to beat. ;.; (well, he wasn't in KH2...)

Anyway. To go back and fix the mess I made of the KH canon, I'd have to rewrite huge sections of stuff. Not happening. It took me 2 years to finish this story in the first place. You'll be lucky if I get around to editing the typos anytime soon.

I haven't mentioned the site lately, but it's still there, you guys should go check it out! – Seriously. If you haven't taken a look at it, the link is in my author's bio. You might be surprised by what you find *nudge nudge wink wink*

I'd also like to thank you all for reading. And to those of you who commented, thank you muchly as well. Especially Doomboy, Ri2, Frequency Queen, Sayana Blade, Herald Aros, AngelFlare, and IcedCandy; your frequent reviews kept me interested in the story and from putting it aside in order to die like a lot of my other fics have. A few of you have told me how much this fic has influenced your life, and I thank you for informing me of that too, because it lets me know I did a good job as a writer. I entertained you, I moved you to tears or made you laugh, and that's what I'd been striving for. So thank you for letting me know I did a good job.

To those of you who haven't left a review yet, please at least leave a review on this one and tell me what you thought of the story as a whole and what you think I could do different in the next story I write to improve my style! It would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

***Aloria

* * *

**Surprise! End of credits bonus material!**

Kaiyou stared up at the sky, perched on the bent Paupu tree next to Kairi, Sora beside the redhead, holding her hand, with Riku leaning in his usual place, and Roxas sitting at Kairi's feet.

It was a beautiful summer night. The air was clear and warm, Kaiyou had opted to simply wear her sports bra-like bathing suit top and a pair of shorts today, since only those who knew she was – well, a girl – were around to see. The others were in similar states of dress – bathing suits and the like.

Her, Sora, and Roxas's birthday had just passed. A year after the whole mess with Gary...

'_I'm eighteen now. Somehow, Umi, it doesn't feel any different.'_

'_You say that every year.'_

A smile touched Kaiyou's lips at that. _'I do. And then things go and change, but subtly.'_

'_Last year was different.'_

She closed her eyes briefly as a gust of wind played in her hair, tickling her back. At Riku's request, she had left it long, but normally kept it braided. The guys at school called her gay; called Riku gay. It annoyed Riku, but Kaiyou found it amusing and didn't bother to correct anyone. She still felt... insecure with her femininity. She had managed to keep her real name safe from most everyone, and her true gender. Sora sighed and said she'd promised to stop lying – but she just wasn't ready yet.

One day, she would be, and they would all just have to wait till then.

Opening her eyes again, she looked up at the sky and tipped her head slightly as she watched a sparkle in the sky grow larger.

"Look, a falling star!" Kairi said. "We should make a wish."

Kaiyou frowned slightly, "Given what we know about stars, not sure wishing on a falling one would be wise."

"Oh, you and your logic," Kairi pushed Kaiyou's shoulder slightly and Kaiyou smirked at her.

"Last time I wished on a falling star," Sora said, "That star turned out to be you, Kairi." He grinned at her, unaware of how romantic he'd sounded just then.

Looking down, the redhead blushed and snuggled closer against Sora's side. Roxas looked up briefly at them, then went back to looking at the sky.

"Looks like that one's going to make it to the ground," Riku pointed out. "Maybe it is another Princess?"

"There are only seven and we know where they are," Roxas pointed out.

"There just might be more in this universe we don't know or understand yet," Kaiyou put in, doing her best to sound sagely. She even lifted her finger and straightened her casual slouch and put on her best imitation of Yen Sid's expression.

Those who looked laughed.

Meanwhile, somewhere off in the distance, the falling star landed.

"Wonder when the next crisis will be?" Kaiyou said, staring towards the general direction the star had landed.

Sora shook his head, "Xemnas is ...gone, so is Maleficent, the worlds are safe."

"The worlds we visited," Kaiyou put in, "What about all the other ones." She pointed up at the sky, "If all these stars represent a world – there are countless worlds. How do we know if one of them hasn't produced some new threat? How do we know that the Princes of Darkness that we didn't take care of aren't out there, plotting something nasty?"

Lowering her hands to her lap, Kaiyou stared up at the sky. "I just have a feeling... our lives will forever be interesting."

She could feel Riku's gaze on her, but it was Roxas who said, "Well, if that's our fate, we'll go through it together, right?"

"Right." Kairi agreed immediately.

'_Silly DiD,'_ Kaiyou couldn't help but think fondly. _'No, that's uncharitable. She's getting better. One day, she might surprise us all.'_

In the meantime, Kairi and Namine were going to be an artist and a vet.

They all looked out towards the sky again as silence fell except for the usual night sounds.

Kaiyou still couldn't quite shake the feeling that the falling star hadn't been just a happenstance. It was the beginning of something new.

'_Change... it's always coming, slowly but surely.'_

'_The fight between Light and Dark – Life and Death – is never over,'_ Umi murmured, _'There is a circle, a recursion. If not today, if not tomorrow... but it is coming.'_


End file.
